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In his first article for Beesotted, Toby Maxtone-Smith explains why, despite his bold statement proclaiming Brentford to be the better side, he is worried the Bees will once again get ‘big match-itis’ when they come up against Orient this weekend.

We’re better than Leyton Orient. Ask any fan of any League One club, and they’ll say so. Even most Brisbane Road regulars would agree. Orient do not have a Clayton Donaldson – a man of so many talents, the most crucial of which is an ability to score big goals in big matches. Orient don’t have playmakers of the calibre of Adam Forshaw or Alan Judge. Their full-backs don’t have the fierceness, as well as the attacking menace, of Alan McCormack and Jake Bidwell. So why have they done so bloody well?

The answer is simple: consistency. Not just consistency of results, but consistency of starting XIs. Orient who, as Russell Slade frequently goes to great pains to emphasise, do not have quite the budget of the Bees, and so have had to rely on fostering a ferocious team spirit and togetherness. Nine of their players (Omozusi, Cuthbert, Clarke, Baudry, Cox, Odubajo, Vincelot, James and Lisbie) have featured in over 30 of their 35 league games this year. From the second game of the season to the ninth, Orient played the same team, the run only ending with Romain Vincelot’s red card in a 1-1 draw against Walsall, Orient’s first dropped points of the season. Slade has proved, just as Sean Dyche has at Burnley, that any group of players can perform when the starting line-ups are consistent.

Had Uwe Rosler realised this a few months before ‘Stevenage dressing-room-gate’, Brentford could be up already. While Uwe must take enormous credit for turning our season around, it was clearly the players who were driving the need for less rotation, and Rosler eventually agreed. Since then we’ve taken 55 points from 22 games; Orient have taken 42 from 24 – below the ‘two points per game’ mark needed to be all but sure of going up.

So why do I have a horrible feeling about Saturday, when 2,700 Bees invade E10 for the biggest match in League One all season? Much of it has to do with the ruthless efficiency with which Orient disposed of us at fortress Griffin Park in the 2-0 defeat in September, a game that now seems a lifetime away. Up until half-time it was an even game, with Brentford perhaps marginally on top. But a rush of blood to the head from Shay Logan gifted the East Londoners a penalty. Mooney converted, and we collapsed. All the fight went out of us, and Shaun Batt added another with five minutes left to complete the victory. ‘West Ham United, we’ll see you next year’ came the song from a jubilant Brook Road on a sobering night for Brentford fans.

But we’re a miles better team than the one that capitulated that night, and Orient are arguably worse. We beat Preston 3-0 at Deepdale, for God’s sake. Orient, meanwhile, have dropped off slightly. Never convincing. But never collapsing.

The Wolves game, though, worried me. It worried me because it was so similar to the Orient game. An even first half was perhaps shaded by us. Instead of going in level we went in 1-0 down with a Wolves opener that was so lucky and so random, we didn’t really have to radically change the way we were playing. However, we collapsed in the second half again. Wolves were comfortable in defence and dangerous in attack shattering our record of nine consecutive wins on home turf. Admittedly they are a much better side than Orient, but it wasn’t football from another planet; just simple football done well, and we couldn’t deal with it. The boys from the Black Country have peaked at just the right time and look set to waltz the league.

This Brentford team has given us some incredible moments, but also great frustration. We freeze in the biggest games, particularly our attacking players. We are yet to score against Orient and Wolves this season. We drew a blank against Doncaster. We didn’t score in the New Year’s Day match with Bournemouth. We scored against Yeovil, but only from a rare set-piece. We needed a last-gasp penalty to score away to Swindon in the play-offs. Only in that home play-off game did we really get into our stride. That first half was some of the best football I’ve seen us play. And although we still managed to make it incredibly difficult for ourselves, the right team went through on the day.

The other thing that is concerning me is our away form. We’ve done well on the road this year, but recently gave flat performances in winnable games at Shrewsbury and Carlisle. Those two results harked back to last year, as it was at this point that we forgot how to win away. After the early January win against Oldham we only won two more away games last season. We didn’t put in terrible performances, but we lacked a killer instinct. It is essential that we stop this happening again this term.

Would I take a draw? I am writing this before the Tranmere game. If we won that, then yes, I would take a draw. For me, this game is a ‘must-not-lose’, rather than a ‘must-win’. However the players must not have that mindset. Brentford play best when we play without fear. We should be looking to win. We’re better than Orient.

Come on you Bees!

Toby Maxtone-Smith
@TRMaxtoneSmith

Catch Toby on FanStand live from the pub – this coming Thursday 13th March at 8pm –