BEN Strevens is keen to prove to Brentford that they were wrong to let him leave and join Wycombe when the two teams clash at Griffin Park tonight.
The 30-year-old striker was told by Bees boss Andy Scott that he would only be on the fringes of the first team at the west-London club in the coming season.
He was snapped up by Blues boss Gary Waddock and should play some part against his old side in a pre-season friendly just one month after leaving.
He said: "I am looking forward to going back and seeing everyone again. I have got a bit of a point to prove because I had a year left on my contract but the gaffer (Scott) said I would be fourth choice.
"At my age I need to be playing first-team football, so I knew it was best to move on. Brentford fans never saw the best of me.
"It was difficult being injured at the start of the season, and things never really got going for me."
Strevens will join goalkeeper Nikki Bull and right-back Danny Foster in a quick return to the club they left this summer.
Former Blues captain Craig Woodman could line up for Brentford after making the switch the other way.
Buckinghamshire Advertiser
WYCOMBE Wanderers travel to Brentford tonight with boss Gary Waddock hoping his side's pre-season continues to go to plan.
Wins against Southern Premier League side Chesham United and Hayes & Yeading of the Conference have impressed.
But Waddock's pre-season plans step up a notch this week with a game at the Bees before they host Reading in their first pre-season game at Adams Park on Saturday.
The Blues boss admits the games are purely fitness exercises still but is hoping is side can keep playing the flowing football they have done so far.
He said: "We can't get carried away. The players have done extremely well. We have two important games coming up this week for fitness.
"Brentford is going to be a tough game and they are a good side. But again it is purely about the fitness.
"We want to play a certain way and we have the chance to try and do that again against a League One club."
Waddock is likely to rule on a number of triallists at the club after the Griffin Park friendly.
Buckinghamshire Advertiser
Ben Strevens believes that the trip to former club Brentford on Tuesday evening (k.o. 8pm) will help show how much progress has been made since Gary Waddock's men kicked off their pre-season campaign three weeks ago.
The 30-year-old ended his one-year spell at Griffin Park in the summer and returns to the London club as part of a new-look Wycombe strikeforce which has netted six times in two friendlies against non-league opposition.
But 'Strevs' feels the short trip to West London will help the new-look Wanderers squad test themselves against stronger opponents:
"It's been good so far and I thought especially on Saturday (against Hayes & Yeading) we were playing how we want to, and the ideas that the 'gaffer' and Martin Kuhl have put across are starting to come off," he said.
"But Tuesday night is a bigger test for us. We want to go there and show how good we are - they were ninth in League One last year and champions of League Two the year before, so hopefully it'll give us a marker of where we're at.
"I think both sides will see it as a friendly with a little bit extra," he added.
The game gives Strevens the chance to prove a point to his former employers, who allowed him to leave the club despite having made just 20 league starts in his time with the Bees.
"I don't feel like I played my best there and I didn't enjoy my football as much as I could've done," he said. "I had an injury and they didn't see the best of me, but hopefully I can go and show them what they're missing."
Gary Waddock is expected to take a strong squad to Brentford, including fellow former Bees Nikki Bull and Danny Foster.
Official Wycombe Wanderers Website
Wanderers maintained their unbeaten start to pre-season with a 1-1 draw at npower League 1 side Brentford.
Kevin Betsy and trialist Mark Phillips both went close early on for Gary Waddock's men, but it was the Bees who took the lead on 26 minutes thanks to an unstoppable 25-yard free-kick from midfielder David Hunt.
The Blues rallied and got their reward four minutes before the break when the in-form Betsy scored the latest well-worked Wanderers goal of pre-season and his third in two games.
'King Kev' raced onto Lewis Montrose's perfectly waited through ball before firing past Simon Moore in the Brentford goal to make it 1-1.
The hosts pressed at the start of the second period and would have been ahead on 58 minutes had it not been for Danny Foster's goal-line clearance to deny former Wanderer David McCracken from close range.
Waddock introduced trialist Marvin McCoy and Jon-Paul Pittman midway through the second half and the pair nearly conjured up the winner with just over 15 minutes remaining. McCoy picked out 'JP' with a pinpoint cross only for the striker to direct his header inches wide of the right-hand post.
Wanderers: Bull; Foster, Sansara (McCoy 60), Winfield, Phillips; Ainsworth (Pittman 67), Betsy, Murtagh, Montrose; Rendell, Strevens.
Unused subs: Arnold, Westwood, Johnson, Green, Westlake, Federico, Fitchett, McClure.
Goals: Betsy (41).
Brentford: Moore; Woodman, Osborne, McCracken, Spillane; Bean, Weston, Hunt, O'Connor; Foster, Cort (Wood 67).
Unused subs: Lee, Royce, Bennett, Diagouraga, Legge, Saunders, MacDonald, Hudson, Blake.
Goals: Hunt (26).
Attendance: 984 (99).
Timeline:
7 mins: CHANCE - Wanderers right-back Danny Foster turns behind David Hunt's teasing cross in front of the lurking Nicky Forster.
12 mins: CHANCE - Looking for his third goal of pre-season, Kevin Betsy sees a curling effort deflect past Simon Moore's left-hand post.
13 mins: CHANCE - Centre-back Mark Phillips flashes a shot just wide from 12 yards.
27 mins: GOAL - David Hunt's stunning 25-yard free-kick gives the hosts the lead.
31 mins: CHANCE - After wriggling away from Dave Winfield and making it to the byline, Nicky Forster can't pick out a team-mate and the ball is gathered by Nikki Bull.
32 mins: CHANCE - Phillips heads a Gareth Ainsworth corner into the arms of Moore from the penalty spot.
35 mins: CHANCE - Michael Spillane volleys just wide from the edge of the Blues' 18-yard box after being picked out by Myles Weston.
41 mins: GOAL - The in-form Kevin Betsy fires home his third goal of pre-season after latching onto a perfectly waited through ball from Lewis Montrose.
45 mins: HT - Brentford 1-1 Wanderers.
58 mins: CHANCE - Danny Foster clears David McCracken's close range effort off the line to keep the Blues on level terms.
60 mins: SUB - Trialist Marvin McCoy replaces Netan Sansara.
65 mins: CHANCE - A 20-yard drive from Betsy is deflected out for a corner.
67 mins: SUB - Captain Gareth Ainsworth is replaced by Jon-Paul Pittman.
72 mins: CHANCE - 'JP' heads McCoy's pinpoint cross narrowly wide.
86mins: CHANCE - Dave Winfield makes a last-ditch challenge to deny Nicky Foster inside the six-yard box.
90 mins: FT - Brentford 1-1 Wanderers.
Official Wycombe Wanderers Website
KEVIN Betsy continued his prolific pre-season form as Wycombe Wanderers came from behind to earn this draw at League One Bees.
The midfielder scored just before the break to cancel out David Hunt's stunning free-kick which opened the scoring on a night when four Wycombe starters were back at their old hunting ground.
Former Bees stars Nikki Bull, Danny Foster, Ben Strevens and trialist Mark Phillips all started for the first time against their old club since leaving the League One club this summer.
Left-back Craig Woodman, a two-time Blues Players' Player of the Season winner, lined up in the Brentford backline after his move from Adams Park.
Strevens was paired with Scott Rendell again up top after the pair impressed in the win at Hayes on Saturday.
The home side started the brighter with one-time Blues target Nicky Forster denied a far post tap-in when Foster headed the ball behind.
Wanderers had to wait until the 11th minute for their first effort when Kevin Betsy cut inside and saw his shot deflected behind for a corner.
The game was a bit of a stalemate until David Hunt curled in a superb free-kick onto the post and past the diving Bull to give Brentford the lead on 26 minutes and register their first pre-season goal.
Forster showed why Blues boss Gary Waddock was so keen to secure his services when he turned Dave Winfield on the byline but he saw his low cross saved and well held by Bull.
Andy Scott's side had upped the tempo and came within fingertips of doubling their lead.
An explosive run by Myles Weston saw the winger pick out Michael Spillane with a pin-point cross but the former Norwich defender saw his low volley tipped behind by Bull.
But Betsy continued his excellent pre-season scoring form on 41 minutes when Lewis Montrose slid the winger through and he powered his shot past the helpless Simon Moore to make it 1-1.
Neither manager made any changes in the second-half with the 984 spectators not treated to any real action until former Wanderers Dave McCracken volleyed a corner towards goal but saw his shot cleared off the line by Foster on 58 minutes.
Wealdstone trialist Marvin McCoy entered the action on the hour mark with a good performance sure to secure a Blues deal and with Waddock throwing on Jon-Paul Pittman for Ainsworth to play with three strikers on the field.
And McCoy picked up where he left off at Hayes but picking out Pittman with a neat cross on 72 minutes only for the striker to cushion his header inches wide.
But in the end a draw was probably a fair result as the game fizzled out.
WANDERERS: Bull, Foster, Winfield, Phillips, Sansara (McCoy 60), Ainsworth (Pittman 65), Murtagh, Montrose, Betsy, Strevens, Rendell.
BRENTFORD: Moore, Woodman, McCracken, Spillane, O'Connor, Osborne, Weston, Bean, Hunt Forster, Cort. (Wood 65)
Att: 984
Buckinghamshire Advertiser
David Hunt scored Brentford's first goal of their pre-season - but it was not enough for victory over Wycombe Wanderers at Griffin Park.
Hunt opened the scoring on 28 minutes with a brilliant free-kick from 30 yards out on the right hand edge of the area, which leaves Nikki Bull clucthing at thin air as it cannons in off the far post.Nicky Forster worked an opening with some sublime skill on the byline moments later, but was denied by Bull.
On 35 minutes, a Michael Spillane belter from the edge of the area, following a brilliant run and cross by Myles Weston, was deflected onto the far post and just wide. But four minutes before half-time, the Brentford back four was left floundering as Kevin Besty burst through to smash home an equaliser.
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