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Brentford 4 Ipswich Town 3 – George Hirst reflects on rollercoaster afternoon in west London as Blues stung by Bees late on




Ipswich Town striker George Hirst admitted the manner of defeat was ‘deflating’ but that there was ‘a hell of positives’ as the Blues lost 4-3 to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium in west London.

Bryan Mbeumo struck in the sixth minute of stoppage time to condemn Town to their third straight defeat and leave Kieran McKenna’s side winless after nine matches of the Premier League season, despite going into a two-goal lead in the first half.

The Blues had played the final 20 minutes with 10-men after Harry Clarke was sent off but found an equaliser through substitute Liam Delap before the decisive blow at the death.

Ipswich Town striker George Hirst got his first Premier League goal to put his side 2-0 up at Brentford before eventually ending up on the end of a 4-3 defeat Picture: Barry Goodwin
Ipswich Town striker George Hirst got his first Premier League goal to put his side 2-0 up at Brentford before eventually ending up on the end of a 4-3 defeat Picture: Barry Goodwin

“A tough way to end if I’m honest but a hell of a lot of positives in there and that’s what we need to focus on,” Hirst reflected.

“We will look at what went wrong and why we conceded four goals because we don’t want to do that, especially away from home because you’re not going to win games; that’s something for us to work on, but (there is) also a lot of positives in there.

“Naturally very deflating, to go and lose the game in that way is never nice. Whether it’s your only loss all season or whether you’ve lost 30 games before that, you’re going to feel the same way to lose a game like that.

“Ultimately the feeling between the boys is we did a hell lot of things right and scored some really good goals. Because of that, any time you concede four you’re going to make it hard to get anything from the game.

“The fact that we nearly did says a lot about how we played and I think we showed a lot of character out there. A hell of a lot of positives but also some things to work on.”

Hirst says the pleasing aspects of the performance is something that the whole dressing room as well as McKenna have spoken about, but highlighted the defensive frailties that have seen the Blues concede four goals for the third time this season.

He said: “Not just the manager but between ourselves as well. Today we’ve been on the wrong side of something that you don’t want to see happen, but ultimately we also have to focus on what we did well.

“What we did well can win us games if we cut out a few of the errors. As much as things went wrong, things also went really right.”

Town have been guilty of letting fast bursts of opposition goals go against them this season, with the Blues shipping multiple goals in quick succession against Liverpool, Manchester City and now Brentford.

While that is clearly something that is being worked on, Hirst says that it is not as simple as trying to calm the game down once they have conceded.

“I think it’s more complex than that,” he claimed. “It’s fine moments ultimately, is it mistakes that we’re making or is it really good play from them?

“They also conceded two goals in three minutes to us and no-one will speak about that because they won the game. We didn’t win the game so people will turn around and say we conceded two very quickly before half-time and rightly so, we shouldn’t do that but that’s what happens, that’s football.

“We went in at half-time and we weren’t down, we were saying we’re right in this game and we’ve shown that in the first 45 minutes.

“It didn’t go our way in the second half but that is football and all we can do is keep working hard and try and eradicate the things that didn’t go our way today.”

Those two quick goals from the Bees just before half-time followed a burst of Town’s own where Sammie Szmodics and Hirst scored within three minutes of each other to fire the visitors into a two-goal lead after weathering the storm of the first two minutes where Brentford have been notoriously successful so far this campaign.

“We definitely wanted to stop them from the get-go, we know how strong they are from kick-offs,” Hirst said. “But we also know how strong we can be and we’re a team who want to go out there, press people and get in people’s faces, especially in the first 30-35 minutes when we were really good at that.

“We limited them to chances and had a lot of good chances ourselves, that came from the whole team working from myself at the top end of the pitch to the boys at the back squeezing the game and ultimately putting them under pressure and creating chances. There’s a lot of positives.”

Town were dealt with the blow of VAR overturning a free-kick to award Brentford a penalty early in the second half, then Clarke was sent off for a second yellow card after bringing down Keane Lewis-Potter, who had caused the right-back problems all afternoon.

On the decisions, Hirst said: “It’s just moments, some go for you and some go against you. Today we had two go against us and they definitely played a part, but that wasn’t the be-all and end-all.

“We conceded two goals before that, two preventable goals from our part, two good goals on their part. It is a game of moments, it’s fine margins especially in the Premier League. Things that you might have got away with last season you’re not going to get away with this season because the standard’s too high.

“Ultimately it’s things for us to work on, and I know we’ve said that in the last few weeks but today especially we saw a lot of positives and a lot of things we have been working on worked really well.

“It’s about sticking to it and doubling down on everything we do.”

Despite the numerical disadvantage, the Blues were able to get themselves back on terms late on when Delap flicked on Leif Davis’s delivery from deep.

That, along with the challenges faced by the Town being forced into six changes from last weekend due to several injury concerns, is something Hirst believes shows the character within the group.

“Without a doubt,” the 25-year-old said. “Being a team in our position you go 3-2 down in the way we did, you saw teams last season have gone on and lost that by more. That’s something we really do pride ourselves on is we’re losing the game but ultimately we’re one chance from being right back in it.

“That showed today, Liam gets the goal and it’s a great finish and we’re right back in the game. Then he goes and hits the post right at the end to make it 4-4, which if that goes in then this is a different chat.

“Again, it’s fine margins, fine moments and something we’ll definitely look to build off.”

Delap was only a substitute today as Hirst was earning his first Premier League start of his career, and the former Leicester City striker says the competition with Delap has been something he has enjoyed.

He said: “It’s something that I’ve been used to ever since I joined the club and it’s not something that’s ever going to go away.

“There’s always going to be competition for places, whether that’s me or other boys in the team. I’m thriving in it, Liam has been on a rich vein of form so far this season and that’s helping me raise my levels.

“I wouldn’t be in the team today if the gaffer didn’t think I deserved it. If I can keep working hard and keep doing what I do best, it’s going to be a good battle between me and Liam to see who gets that starting shirt.

“But we also respect that one of us will start and one of us won’t and the one that doesn’t needs to be ready to come on. Today, Liam comes on and gets a goal.

“I’m delighted for him, he’s delighted for me to get my goal and we both keep working hard to keep pushing each other.”

On a personal note, Hirst also scored his first goal in the top flight while also laying on the assist for Szmodics’s opener.

Hirst added: “I’m delighted. Obviously a bit of the gloss is taken off it losing the game as we did, which is the main thing. It’s not about me and my goal, it’s about how we ended the game and that’s something we’ll look at next week.

“It was an amazing feeling and one that I’ll remember for a long time and that I’ll be very proud of for myself. But ultimately it means nothing when you go and lose the game the way we did.

“For me, it’s just about getting back on the training pitch on Monday, going into next week and hopefully getting myself back in the team, scoring more goals and hopefully coming out on the right side of the result.”