Sunday 25 January 2015 17:13, UK
Brentford manager Mark Warburton insists his high-flying side will embrace the challenge of attempting to maintain a promotion push few would have predicted at the start of the season.
The Bees recorded a 2-1 win at Norwich to move to within two points of the Sky Bet Championship summit - and Warburton insists they are there on merit.
"There is still a lot of football to be played but the fact is that we have played 27 games and we are just two points behind the leaders," he said.
"There is a lot of talent in the squad and they deserved to be where they are.
"How far can this group of players go? Well if they keep believing in themselves, who knows? Hopefully we can keep imposing ourselves on games like we did today and then see where that takes us."
Warburton was delighted with the performance of his team - and singled out match-winner Alex Pritchard and keeper David Button for special praise.
"I thought we played very well, right from the very first minute," he said. "We were purposeful and penetrative and looked after the ball well and I thought 1-1 at half-time was an unjust scoreline.
"Credit to the lads, they came out in the second half and continued to take the game to Norwich and we got what we deserved in the end.
"I thought Alex was excellent throughout. I have known about him since he was eight or nine and were delighted to get him on loan from Spurs and long may that arrangement last.
"As for David I think he is the best in the league, I really do. He just seems to get better and better and he made some really important saves today."
Brentford looked the better side from the very first minute, when Andre Gray missed a glorious chance after being put clean through, and deservedly took the lead on 21 minutes.
Steven Whittaker carelessly lost possession on the edge of the visitors' box and a swift counter-attack ended with Gray slipping the ball through to Jota who finished clinically at the back post.
Norwich had not really been in it up to then but got back on level terms six minutes later when Nathan Redmond's low shot went through a couple of pairs of legs to deceive the unfortunate Button.
The Bees shrugged off that setback to dominate the game for long periods and got the winner they deserved in the 71st minute when a combination of Carlos Cuellar and Michael Turner brought down Gray just inside the area.
Pritchard converted from the spot and - after Bradley Johnson had hit the crossbar for Norwich - the hosts comfortably held out for an important three points.
Norwich manager Alex Neil saw the other side of his team after his first two games in charge had ended in victories.
"We had our chances to have got something out of the game but to be honest our performance would not have merited it. I thought we were poor today and didn't deserve to get anything out of the game," he said.
"It paints a picture of why we are where we are in the league. The bottom line was that there was not enough hunger out there - and without that you are always going to find it tough.
"The two teams were pretty much matched up and I don't think you could say we won too many of the individual battles out there today.
"It's a question of how much do you want it as a player? I don't think we were beaten by a better side. I think we were beaten by a hungrier side.
"Before today the players had done well since I have been here - but this certainly tells me something about the negative side of the team."
