Brentford 3-1 Bolton: Dean Smith and Jimmy Phillips reaction
Wednesday 6 April 2016 08:55, UK
Brentford boss Dean Smith is targeting a top-10 finish in the Sky Bet Championship after a 3-1 victory over Bolton on Tuesday evening.
The Bees recorded their second straight win to all but seal Championship safety for a second season while Bolton now face relegation if they lose at Derby on Saturday.
Smith, whose side cruised to a three goal first-half lead courtesy of a Lasse Vibe brace and cool Nico Yennaris finish, said his side took their foot off the gas after the interval.
But he admitted: "If you'd said to me three weeks ago that we'd have two wins on the spin at Forest and again here I'd have bitten your hand off.
"It means we can go to Ipswich on Saturday and try to make it three wins in a row and then we can be looking at a top-10 finish."
Zach Clough gave the visitors hope from the penalty spot after Alan McCormack had bundled Kaiyne Woolery over in the box, but the game was over as a contest by half-time.
Bolton boss Jimmy Phillips blamed a "defensively dreadful" first half for the collapse, but praised their second-half fightback.
"We set ourselves up to press Brentford high up the pitch and played a back four to cope with any balls over the top, but we failed miserably to cope with it," he said.
"It's down to a lack of experience but we are at the stage at the club where things are getting tighter and tighter at the end of the season and we have one eye on trying to be as competitive as we can be while also looking at who we want to keep at the club."
He admitted relegation looked inevitable, but called on the players to show some fight in the remainder of the campaign.
"We have to give the supporters something to cheer about rather than give them the kind of displays we gave in the first half tonight," he said.
"In the second half we were more competitive and we always say we have to compete before we can play. Before the break we were nowhere near as competitive as we needed to be."
The win means Brentford are almost guaranteed a third consecutive season in the second tier for the first time since 1954 and Smith is looking forward after a convincing first-half display.
"We wanted to start on the front foot and that's just what we did. It was all over as a contest by half-time," he said.
"I wanted more goals but with the run of form we've been on I wanted a result and that was the most important thing."
He hailed the defensive work of his squad and the move into midfield of Yennaris - who added his second goal of the season to Saturday's opener at Forest - for the revival.
"Nico has been a revelation in there but we have worked very hard on being solid defensively and organised and apart from a slightly ragged 20 minutes after half-time we haven't been troubled."
