Tuesday 17 March 2015 23:15, UK
Mark Warburton praised Brentford's resilience as the Bees twice came from behind to keep themselves in the Sky Bet Championship play-off spots with a spirited 3-2 win at Blackburn.
Andre Gray's 84th-minute winner meant the Bees remained in the top six after they had earlier twice fought back from going behind in an entertaining affair at Ewood Park.
Warburton was critical of the defending for both Rudy Gestede's early opener and Chris Taylor's effort deep into first-half stoppage time, which had restored Rovers' lead after Chris Long's deflected strike brought the visitors level.
However, after revealing his fury at the way the hosts had twice breached their goal, Warburton credited a collective response in the second period which was kick-started by Jota's equaliser following an unopposed 60-yard run.
"We made individual errors in the first half," Warburton said.
"We were frustrated and angry at half-time as a group because the standards had been so high that they have set. But I thought it was a fantastic response, in the second half we looked strong.
"I thought we were worthy winners in the end."
The result may have extinguished Rovers' own hopes of gatecrashing the top six down the stretch, as they slipped 11 points behind the Bees on a night when they had hoped to trim the gap to just five.
Warburton appreciated the importance of such a victory but expects plenty of twists and turns over the final eight fixtures.
"We knew had we lost that game today Blackburn would have been very, very tight to us and had great momentum," the outgoing Bees manager added.
"People talk about nerves but it was a great win today. With the greatest respect to Blackburn - it puts us 11 points clear.
"You saw tonight late goals, equalisers, people dropping points and that will carry on week in, week out. Our only focus is on Brentford."
Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer, who had pre-match injury concerns over 10 players, thought his players gave their all despite their recent revival hitting a bump in the road.
"They have fighting qualities," Bowyer said of his squad.
"We've got Connor Mahoney as a sub for us who played 90 minutes for the reserves last night; that's how stretched we are. You wouldn't have guessed that from the commitment these lads have shown.
"I've said about staying level-headed, people billed this as though it was a six-pointer (but) we'll dust ourselves down and go again Saturday."
The manner of Brentford's goals did disappoint Bowyer, though, with Long benefiting from plenty of space before he opened the Bees' account, Jota travelling over half the pitch without a Blackburn challenge, and Gray fortuitously cashing in after the hosts had squandered possession deep in their own territory.
"We scored two goals at home and didn't get anything out of the game; that's a bit hard to take," Bowyer said.
"The first one he's had a long way to run, the second one he's had even further to run and we've given the ball away cheaply for the third one - it's not been good enough."
