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Beesotted regular, Jim Levack, looks back at Russell Slade’s bitter post-match comments and the awful referee performance at Brisbane Road.

I’m sure I speak for many Bees fans when I say that Orient boss Russell Slade’s petulant post match comments simply made the weekend’s watershed win even sweeter.

His insistence that his side deserved something from the game and churlish “they celebrated like they’d won the FA Cup” was an insult to all right minded football fans.

Slade is a good manager and has done well on a limited budget, but – as I’ve said before on this site – he’s reluctant to give any credit where it’s clearly due unlike his opposite number at Wolves.

If he had any understanding of the game, he’d know precisely why the Bees fans and management celebrated like they did.

First, the win encapsulated in 90 minutes the sheer unadulterated joy of why we love the game and our club so much… a roller coaster of emotion merely heightened by the anguish of last season’s finale.

Second, to win a feisty London derby with 11 v 11 is an achievement. To win one with 10 men is even better, but when you’re playing against 12 it’s remarkable.

And third, unless the former teacher hadn’t noticed, the game could well prove to be the pivotal encounter of the season.

Oh, I almost forgot the fourth and possibly most important reason… that Brentford finally shed their big game bottler tag once and for all.

So forgive us all Mr Slade, but in decrying the against all odds achievement of your side’s conquerers you completely miss the whole point of what football is all about.

Perhaps when he sits down and watches the highlights back he’ll see that yes, his side created chances in their own direct and effective way.

But football in League One has moved on and Brentford are ahead of the curve. Football and true grit won the day in east London and that’s as it should be.

I have purposely not launched into a crusade against referee Robert Madley because, despite his very best efforts, he was ultimately of little consequence to the outcome.

But a look at the world of twitter last night and he can hold his head high at one achievement… that he united the entire football community in condemnation of his utterly incompetent handling of what was always going to be a difficult game to handle.

Some of the decisions he made, and his linesman was equally culpable, were staggering and utterly incomprehensible.

James Tarkowski’s red was about the only thing he got right, and even then if you watch closely there wasn’t actually any contact in the first challenge.

I’ve seen some atrocious refs down the years, many of them inconsistent or just plain arrogant, but I’ve never seen a match official so clearly favour one side as this.

It’s also very rare for fans of a team that has won such a critical game – and yes Mr Slade, it was critical – to be consumed by a referee’s performance post match.

This referee managed that and I for one hope he has a little break for a few weeks now. If he doesn’t then perhaps the watching Greg Dyke should have a word high up.

So that’s why we were all so chuffed Mr Slade. But no, we’re none of us naïve enough to think that’s it, job done, top two signed and sealed.

We are Brentford and we’ve been close companions of pain and heartache down the years, but we now have a side that knows no fear – and can play a bit too.

So please allow us a day or so to celebrate “like we’ve won the FA Cup” – and then we’ll be back to focus on the job in hand.

There’s plenty of games left – fewer for Orient obviously – and there will be twists and turns yet to come.

But if Mark Warburton is looking for more material to show the players before the last 11 games, he could do worse than dig out the former PE teacher’s post match analysis.

When I was at school we were taught how to win and lose with dignity and grace, but clearly they are lessons he has long forgotten.

Jim Levack
@Jimblee1