Carlos Carvalhal admitted Wednesday rode their luck at times to take the three points against Brentford but was full of praise for his side’s attitude and effort.
The head coach said afterwards: “It is a victory that we win with a little luck in moments of the game. But I must tell you that last season we lost 2-1 to the same opponents and we missed 10 chances on goal – this is football.”
He added: “Three points was the most important thing. We achieved the victory with pain, blood and big hearts. My players tried to find energy when they thought they didn’t have it.
“We were better second half and controlled the game. We also corrected some things tactically, we put more pressure on the first phase of distribution of the opponents, we pressed them and they felt more problems.”
Carvalhal named an unchanged side for the game, despite pre-match doubts over Kieran Lee, Steven Fletcher, Jack Hunt and Ross Wallace, and explained: “I decided to go with the momentum and keep the same side. The players said they wanted to play and felt available.”