Town Out to Continue Griffin Park Form and Build on Opening Day Win Friday, 12th Aug 2016 06:00 Town boss Mick McCarthy takes his squad to Brentford on Saturday looking to continue the Blues’ good form at Griffin Park. Having won 4-2 there on Boxing Day 2014, Town came minutes from claiming another three points on Bees’ territory on the opening day of last season until the home side netted twice in injury time to claim an unlikely draw. While disappointed with Tuesday’s 1-0 EFL Cup defeat to League Two Stevenage, McCarthy is pleased that his side began their Championship season with a victory over Barnsley last week, as they ought to have done a year earlier at Griffin Park, where they are unbeaten since 1955. “We’ve had a good start,” he said. “It’s a tough place to go and play but we’ve had good results there in the past. “We [had a good start] last season as well with the two-all draw at Brentford, but it should have been about 3-0 or 4-0.” Reflecting on that game, he added: “We gave away two really poor goals. To get one right over the top of us down the centre and, although it was Andre Gray and he’s a good player, it should never have happened. And the corner kick resulted in the equaliser. "We should have been home and hosed, we played really well that day. But we weren’t and we had to move on and get on with it.” McCarthy says the victory over the Tykes has given his side a platform: “We’ve got three points and we want to build on that now. "It’s going to be tough though as Brentford will be a good side. We watched them play last week and although they were beaten [2-1 at Huddersfield] they played well.” He says the Brentford squad is starting to develop under head coach Dean Smith, who took charge in November last year. “I looked at their teamsheet and there are quite a few different names on that, they have lost a few,” McCarthy continued. “The big centre-back [James Tarkowski] went to Burnley, [Toumani] Diagouraga went to Leeds, the left-back [Jake Bidwell] has gone off to QPR. “They’ve changed it around and brought players in, so it’s not the team that we would think of last season, even when they played here. “But nevertheless I’ve no doubt that they’ll still be the same team and they’ll be trying to play wide open and attractive football.” McCarthy says any animosity that there might have been between the two camps following the game at Portman Road in April is in the past. Bees boss Smith said Luke Hyam’s challenge which led to Alan Judge suffering a broke leg had been “a bit of a naughty tackle”, while Hyam was later sent off for reacting to a poor challenge by Ryan Woods. “I know Dean well, he’s a nice fella. Me and him are going to go toe-to-toe and kick the s--t out of one another!” joked McCarthy. “I’d forgotten about that, except for speaking to Judgey, and I’m not really interested in everything else. “I just hope that Alan Judge is fit and well. I spoke to him on a couple of occasions, he was recuperating really well and he was delighted with that. He had no axe to grind with Luke or me or anybody else. And why would he?” He added: “I turn up to every ground and expect them to like me and if they don’t then it’s their problem, genuinely. I’m not saying the fans will like me, but I don’t give any reason for any of the coaches or managers not to. “And I haven’t on this occasion. I spoke to Dean, I think I saw him at the LMA dinner but I had a few beers, maybe I didn’t. I spoke to him and we’re fine.” McCarthy will decide on his team after Friday training: “I’ll see how they all are because we had the game on Tuesday. Some of them have been able to recover. The ones that have played two games, I’ll certainly take a look at them all tomorrow and see how they’re all feeling. “They’ll all tell me they’re OK, of course, but it’s my decision as to whether they play or not.” Bartosz Bialkowski will return in goal after being left out of the EFL Cup tie, having made a superb and crucial save just before half-time during the Barnsley match. McCarthy says 29-year-old Pole has been excellent since he came to the club: “From the minute he walked through the door he’s been outstanding, Bart. So has Gerks as well, I might add. “Whenever they’ve alternated through injury, sickness, births, deaths, marriages, which is just about all the things that come into it, whenever the other one has had to step in for the one who has had to miss out, they’ve both been excellent. Bart’s form’s terrific.” At the back, the Town boss seems set to go back to the four which started against the Tykes. Skipper Luke Chambers will be at right-back, Jonas Knudsen on the left and Adam Webster and Christophe Berra at the heart of the defence. In midfield, McCarthy has plenty of options, although Cole Skuse seems certain to start in his usual holding role. Kevin Bru could again play in the other central position, while Teddy Bishop, former Bee Jonathan Douglas and new loan signing Conor Grant are other alternatives. Bishop and Grant are also options for the wide roles along with last week’s hat-trick hero Ward. Up front in David McGoldrick's absence Freddie Sears looks set to start alongside Daryl Murphy, who McCarthy has confirmed will start having returned to training on Thursday after being given a few days off. The Town boss says that even if the Blues number nine hadn’t been allowed time away the 33-year-old wouldn’t have been involved against Stevenage. “He wouldn’t have played whether I let him have time off to go home to Ireland with his wife and kids and his family, which he didn’t get in the summer, or he’d have stayed at home,” the Blues boss added. “But of course we miss him, he was our 27-goal striker, he’s a big part of my team, he’s a big part of this club and he’ll be playing on Saturday.” New re-signing Luke Varney is set to go straight into the squad, while McGoldrick (ankle), Hyam, Giles Coke (both knee) and Brett Pitman (thigh) are all sidelined and will miss Saturday’s game. Bees boss Smith, whose side exited the EFL Cup after losing 1-0 after extra-time at League Two Exeter on Tuesday, is determined that his side don’t start their season with a three-game winless run. “We don’t want to go through the first week without a win and we want a better performance as well,” he told Bees Player. “A win gives you confidence and it gives you a start. “We have to perform better than we did up at Huddersfield Town last week but I thought that we controlled the game on Tuesday but weren’t clinical enough or clever enough in the final third. That is something that we will be working on and getting ready for Saturday.” Fitness-wise Smith says there were inevitably a few knocks sustained in the 120 minutes at Exeter. “There was a lot of ice going around on the coach on Tuesday night but I have a smile on my face today because there are a lot more bodies on the training ground which is good,” he added. “Maxime Colin and Andreas Bjelland have trained today and Josh McEachran is back in training. “Emmanuel Ledesma and Ryan Woods both got dead legs but they are ones that they can run off and they will be fully in training [on Friday]. “We are still waiting to find out the diagnosis on Alan McCormack but it looks like a heel injury. “Yoann Barbet’s ankle is still a little bit sore. Maxime is definitely available and Andreas is back in full training but it will be touch and go if he is available, as it will be for Yoann.” Winger Judge remains on the sidelines due to the broken leg he suffered at Portman Road, while striker Lasse Vibe is with the Denmark squad at the Olympics. The teams have only met on 12 previous occasions with the Blues having had much the better of the West Londoners. Overall, Town have won six of the games between the sides (two in the league), the Bees two (two) with four (four) ending in draws. The Blues’ only defeat at Griffin Park came in their first match there, a Division Three South game in November 1955, when Sir Alf Ramsey’s side were beaten 3-2. In April at Portman Road, 10-man Town fell to a 3-1 home defeat to Brentford as their all but faded play-off hopes suffered a further setback. After Bees winger Judge had been stretchered off early on with his broken leg, the visitors went ahead through Sam Saunders before the Blues were reduced to 10 men when Hyam was shown his second yellow card for his clash with Woods just before-half-time. After the break, Vibe sealed the win for the West Londoners with two quick-fire goals with Liam Feeney netting late consolation for the Blues. Last time the teams met at Griffin Park, on the opening day of last season, injury-time goals from Gray and Tarkowski saw Brentford grab a shock 2-2 draw. Town had seemed well on their way to claiming all three points via goals from Bru and debutant loanee Ryan Fraser either side of the break, but the Bees struck twice in time added on to claim a point when had never seemed on the cards. Two current Town players have previously been with Brentford. Centre-half Tommy Smith was on loan at Brentford between January and March 2010, making eight starts. Former Bees skipper Douglas joined the Blues on a free transfer in the summer of 2015 having made 186 starts and one sub appearance while at Griffin Park, scoring 17 goals. Brentford winger Judge came close to joining the Blues from Notts County in the summer of 2013 but ended up moving to Blackburn. Saturday’s referee is Stephen Martin from Staffordshire, who last season showed 83 yellow cards and five red in 38 games. So far in 2016/17 he booked six players in Sunday’s Aston Villa-Sheffield Wednesday clash, which ended 1-0 to the Owls, and one in Blackburn’s 3-1 win at Mansfield in the EFL Cup. Martin’s last Town game was the 1-0 home defeat to Rotherham in March, in which he booked Jonas Knudsen and one Miller. Prior to that he took control of the 2-1 home victory over Fulham on the opening day of 2014/15 in which he booked Tyrone Mings, Berra and Hyam. Before that he was in charge of the 2-0 home victory over Brighton in September 2013, when he booked only one visiting player, and the 2-1 loss at Bristol City in the January of that year, in which he showed a single yellow card to one of the home side. Town squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Emmanuel, Knudsen, Kenlock, Webster, Berra, T Smith, Digby, Skuse, Bru, Douglas, Bishop, Grant, Dozzell, Ward, Sears, Murphy, Varney.
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