Brentford manager Andy Scott said his team fully deserved their clean sheet in "awful conditions" on their Friday night trip to Hartlepool United.

The Bees boss said his defence was "very solid" and felt if one team were going to win it in the second half it was his side.

He praised his team - and central defenders Mark Phillips and Alan Bennett in particular - for the way they responded to losing at home to Swindon Town last week

"Last week defensively we were poor but tonight we were pretty solid," he said. "They had a couple of chances but nothing clear cut and as the game wore on their chances diminished more and more.

"We came more and more into the game and maybe had the better chances in the second half.

"The conditions were awful and this is a difficult place to come - it gets us back on track, we can start again, it gives us confidence.

"The determination to keep a clean sheet was there to see.

"We deserved the clean sheet, I'm delighted for the whole team, it was a team effort."

Scott admitted his team could be a little higher up the table than they are now but was looking for his side to make progress up the league in the coming weeks.

"We are ticking along, we have 14 points from 12 games.

"We know we could have a few points more but we are feeling our way in this division and we have started as well, if not better, than the other teams that came up.

"We are going to get stronger, we are learning from our mistakes.

"We want to close in on the teams in the top 10 and give ourselves a chance of being in the mix at the end of the season.

"It's important we keep picking up points and move up the league, we believe we deserve to be in the top 10."

See Andy Scott's full post-match press conference on Bees Player on Saturday.

Alan Bennett also spoke to Bees Player after the match, see an interview with the Brentford skipper on Sunday.

By Chris Wickham