Town boss Paul Lambert admitted his side never deserved to take anything from their 2-0 defeat at Brentford believing the first half was the worst 45 minutes since he took charge.

Lambert praised midfielder Flynn Downes for the way he recovered from the error which led to the Bees’ second goal.

Asked about the positives he could take from the match, the Blues manager said: “I think Flynn Downes recovering from his slip was major for him. OK, he made the mistake for the second goal but the great thing about it was that he kept wanting to take the ball which is great for him.

“It’s great for his development as a player as well. It won’t be his first mistake and it certainly won’t be his last.

“All credit to him, I thought he did really well, Flynn, so that was a big positive. As I said before, we’re a young team.

“But we never deserved to take anything from the game. The big turning point was when Collin hit the post when everybody thought it was going in.

“That might have changed the course of the game, I don’t know. But we were up against a good side, but we were very young. There are a lot of good things at the club, good players that we’ve got.”

After Quaner hit the post the home side immediately went up the other end and took the lead via Neal Maupay. Did that minute sum up Town’s season? “Probably, he did everything right, it was a great pass by Andre and he went through and he did everything right, he chipped the goalkeeper. I thought it was going in and then it hit the post.

“And then they went up the park and scored. But I think it was probably the worst 45 minutes since I’ve at the club because we’ve been at a pretty consistent level. We’ve been playing really, really well without getting the breaks at times.

“It’s all about developing the young players and they will take knocks in their careers it’s how they come back from it, so I can’t be too harsh on them.

“As I said, in the first half, I don’t think we did enough, Judge had a good chance at 2-0, normally he’d hit the target, that never happened, so you know it’s not your night.”

A reminder that the youngsters need a bit of experience around them? “They will need that. You can’t stress enough the development in games like that, it’s going to really help them because they’ll know what it entails and what it involves.

“it might not feel it to them at the minute, but they will, 100 per cent they’ll learn from it and they’ll get better and better at it and they’ll become a really good side, I’ve got no doubt on that whatsoever, we’ll become a really good side.

“It’s just that little finish touch, as I always say. As I say, we’ve got a few players missing at the minute as well, a few experienced players missing. But I can’t have any qualms about the result, we never did enough.”

Midfielder Cole Skuse was among a number of senior players absent. “Skusey had a bit of fluid in his knee from Saturday,” Lambert added. “It was getting better, hopefully he’s OK for Saturday.

“Gwion Edwards, I don’t know, maybe, it’s his groin. Jon Nolan, maybe. Will Keane maybe. Collins maybe. It’s all maybes at the moment with the guys. We’ll see how they are.”

"The Blues finished with a midfield featuring Downes, Andre Dozzell, Tristan Nydam and Idris El Mizouni, which Lambert saw as another positive to be taken from what overall was another disappointing evening.

“It’s great, and they never disgraced themselves,” he said. “In the second half, we never capitulated.

“They’re a good side, have more experience than us, but we never laid down in the second half, we kept on going, kept on going.

“That’s the future of the club and it’s in a good place. Those kids will get better without a doubt.”

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank felt it was a professional performance from his team.

"A little more so in the first half," he reflected. "We played quickly, one and two touches trying to move them side to side. And we were running a lot, really putting in a lot of intensity into the game.

"And I like that we tried to play more in behind them like we sometimes do. It was not spot on, but that opened gaps in between them.

"And we got more and more space and opportunities throughout the first half, and could have scored maybe one more. I know they hit the post but that was the only situation they had.

"I know the goal maybe changed the momentum and all that, but at the end of the day we did well enough to be 2-0 up at half-time.

"Second half, it’s professional. We just want more. I’m pleased that we didn’t give anything away, and in open play, situations where we should defend well, we didn’t give anything."

Photo: TWTD

midastouch added 09:53 - Apr 11 Brentford are streets ahead of us. They have learned the lessons of Moneyball and use it to their advantage. How does a team of that size regularly manage to out perform teams with bigger stadiums and fan bases? Because they box clever under the guidance of their astute owner using in depth statistical analysis which enables them to compete with teams with far bigger budgets. It would do us well to spend some of our resources to poach one of these computer experts with the required knowledge of how to build a workable model for us to implement. That would be our best signing of the last 10 years!

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tractorollson added 10:33 - Apr 11 Why on earth did ME ever appoint PH and PL's record isnt much better. I worry for us next season I really do.
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Lightningboy added 10:49 - Apr 11 To be fair Brentford are one of the best home teams in this division. The 60 seconds where Quaner hit the post then them going up the other end and scoring a shoddy goal just about summed up our season. Fans were brilliant once again last night - we need to take that passion into next season 💙 A lot of work to be done over the summer & hopefully we'll get our fair share of luck next season cos this season's lack of it has taken the pi55.

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runningout added 12:00 - Apr 11 Onwards and ?
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nineteenseventyeight added 13:05 - Apr 11 This is a Results Industry and we have no Results, if it was a 'be nice' industry we would be top of the league.
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blueboy1981 added 14:20 - Apr 11 Quite simply we are an embarrassment to the Championship, because we are so poor - League 1 is where it has to be, there has been no chance of getting out of the mire since Lambert arrived - we continue to TALK about all these fantastic youngsters (many of whom think they are already superstars, because everyone connected with the Club tells them they are ) - but the hard fact is:- they haven't even arrived yet. When will the talk stop ? - and these people step up to the plate. Excuses wear thin with time, and have done so with me.

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blueboy1981 added 14:21 - Apr 11 We're a soft touch - a trait that the Club has to eradicate post haste.
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woohoo added 14:52 - Apr 11 To be fair to PL, he has to remain positive and make positive noises - even if it is sounding a bit thin when the results are so poor. He really can't be saying we are doomed and the players are poor quality, even if he believes that - which he surely must. He has to say something or he'll be accused of being 'defensive' or 'evasive' and so, for now, we just need to believe that he has a plan to address the issues that he sees on the pitch. Whether the owner backs him and allows him to implement his plan... ..well we shall see..

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thundercat600 added 10:12 - Apr 12 Just read the artical in today's Sun Newspaper about ITFC, and how right it was about the treatment of MM resulting in him being ousted out. They did not like his way of playing football and he was replaced by Hurst an up and coming dynamic young manager. We all know how that panned out do we not. So to all you MM haters because of your actions we shall be playing football in league one next season, thank you

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