Smith: It was a game too far for Bees

Brentford boss Dean Smith felt his team showed signs of fatigue as they ended their season with a 3-1 defeat at home to Blackburn.

Rovers, relegated despite winning at Griffin Park, scored twice in the opening 15 minutes.

The Bees hit back with a second-half goal from Lasse Vibe but Harlee Dean was sent off late in the game for fouling Marvin Emnes, and Craig Conway scored with the resulting penalty.

It was not the finish to the season Smith had hoped for after an encouraging campaign, which Brentford finished in 10th spot.

“It’s not the ideal way. We would have liked to have finished with a win but it wasn’t to be,” Smith said.

“Football-wise it was okay, but today I think we wanted a football game and I’m not sure Blackburn wanted to give us that.

“We had some nearly moments and got in some good situations but the finish wasn’t quite there.

“Some of the players looked a little bit tired and it looked like it was a game too far for us. We wanted to finish with a flourish.”