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There was an intersting discussion among our group on the train back from Bornemouth on Saturday, one which centred around how much the Bees missed a ‘Clayton Donaldson’ down at Dean Court.

The reasons he left the club have all been well chronicled, and this isn’t a ‘we should have kept him’ piece because that is water under the bridge … He missed too many chances and he wanted off, so that’s the end of that.

What Clayton did offer was a phenomenal physical presence which scared the b’jezus out of most defenders, sometimes taking two men to mark him as well as holding the ball up well and bringing others into play. In the first two games of the season that physical presence has been missed.

Andre Grey, Tommy Smith and Nick Proschwitz need an altogether different kind of service as well as offering an altogether different outlet.

Warburton’s preferred, attractive style of football is great to watch and will, I’m confident, see us survive and flourish at this level… But Brentford resorted to shooting from distance too often at the weekend rather than creating width and getting telling crosses into the box…

It will be fascinating to see if the management team can be successful in identifying and securing the missing piece of this Championship jigsaw with just two weeks of the transfer window remaining open.

If we can ensure the same effort levels and all round impressive standard of play the Bees have demonstrated they are close to being a very decent second tier outfit, we are certainly not out of our depth… The truly difficult task is to now make us a genuine threat in the final third.

I guess a resolution to the Adam Forshaw situation is inextricably linked however.

Dave Lane