WYCOMBE WONDERS
Chairboys in second tier for the very first time
OLLIE WATKINS has warned Brentford’s ‘BMW’ front line will step on the gas to keep the heat on their promotion rivals West Brom.
The 24-goal top scorer says lockdown only made the Championship’s most-coveted trio – Said Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Watkins himself – even hungrier to take Brentford into the top flight for the first time in 73 years.
Manager Thomas Frank’s BMW have plundered 56 goals between them this season and Watkins has been a revelation playing down the middle after Neal Maupay was sold to Brighton for £20million last summer. Watkins, 24, is also in line to win the Championship’s Golden Boot and Preston are next in the firing line at Griffin Park tomorrrow.
He said: “I don’t think too much about the Golden Boot. Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to win it, but the main goal is always promotion.
“If we can achieve both, that would be brilliant, but the main target is to be playing in the Premier League next season.
“To be honest, last summer I didn’t see myself replacing Neal and scoring 25 goals, but once I moved to a more central role and scored a few early in the season, I quickly hit my stride. Everything happens for a reason, so I’m glad Neal left and I’ve had this opportunity!”
Brentford have narrowed the gap on West Brom to three points after seven straight wins, and Watkins (above) added: “The break gave us all a chance to sit back and take stock.
“Everyone was motivated to come back firing and, if anything, the lockdown only made us more hungry.
“Since we’ve been back, our mindset is better and we are working even harder than we did before.
“In the last two games, we won them both but we had more to give, which is a very good sign for us.
“I’m sure any team would be looking over their shoulders at us, knowing that they cannot afford to drop points, given the way we are playing.
“It’s all down to ourselves – if we stop running and stop doing the basics, we won’t make the automatic promotion spots.
“But if we carry on doing what we’ve done since the restart, I’m very confident that we will.”