Brentford 0 Barnsley 2: Reds strike duo spoil the party for Bees

Goals from strikers Adam Armstrong and Sam Winnall meant the Bees failed to celebrate their 4,000th league game with a win.

“I’m really pleased. It’s what we’ve been after for a few games now, where we’ve performed well and not got our rewards,” said Heckingbottom.

“Today there were fewer errors and the decision-making was much better. It’s been easy to see what the problem has been because the eight goals we’ve conceded recently have been down to us and things we did wrong. We put that right today and got what we deserved.”

Heckingbottom believes his players are now adjusting to the jump in quality from League One and added: “Every game is a challenge and we have to bring the same level of performance we’ve shown today into every game.”

With the Reds moving level with their hosts, he reserved special praise for Armstrong and Winnall, stating: “They both led the line well and were our first line of defence without the ball, too. They gave us a good platform and pleasingly both got goals.

“Brentford have only conceded two at home this season and are a good side, good with the ball and tough to handle, but we came with a game-plan and executed it with as few errors as possible and our decision-making was good.

“We deserved the victory and to keep a clean sheet was good.”

Brentford: Bentley, Colin, Egan, Bjelland, Barbet, Woods, Yennaris, Saunders (Clarke 46), Sawyers (Hofmann 79), KaiKai (McEachran 58), Hogan. Unused substitutes: Macleod, Bonham, Kerschbaumer, Dean.

Barnsley: Davies, Bree, MacDonald, Jackson, Yiadom, Watkins, Hourihane, Morsy, Kent (Hammill 86), Winnall (Brown 90), Armstrong (Williams 85). Unused substitutes: Lee, Townsend, Evans, Kpekawa.

Referee: J Linington (Isle of Wight).

Man of the match: Angus MacDonald.