Brentford’s last meeting with Leyton Orient came almost 10 years and six months prior to Tuesday’s visit of the east Londoners to Gtech Community Stadium in the Carabao Cup.

It was a second-v-third League One showdown at Brisbane Road, shown live on Sky Sports on 15 March 2014; Orient sat second on 74 points after 36 games, with Mark Warburton’s side one point and one place below, but, crucially, with two games in hand.

In the late spring sun, Marcello Trotta’s low strike in the second minute of first-half stoppage time killed the game off and, in hindsight, Orient’s automatic promotion hopes with it.

James Tarkowski was sent off less than five minutes into the second half, but Russell Slade’s side were unable to capitalise on their one-man advantage, which allowed Brentford to jump two points ahead.

“We’re disappointed with the result. It was a big game for both teams, but it’s not finished here. I mean, they celebrated like they’d won the FA Cup,” said Slade in his infamous post-match interview, prompting fans to hand out FA Cup cut-outs with Slade’s face emblazoned upon them.

Dan Long spoke to three players who played that day - Clayton Donaldson, Alan Judge and Alan McCormack - and reminisced on a key moment in the Bees' 2013/14 promotion season.

Gtech is offering a free junior ticket with every adult or concession ticket purchased for Brentford's Carabao Cup tie against Leyton Orient on Tuesday 17 September. Get your tickets now

Clayton Donaldson

“I remember tensions were quite high between us and them. We were both pushing for promotion; they were a point ahead, but we had a couple of games in hand, so it was a must-win game for them.

“We changed our system slightly and I was playing on the wing. We wanted to make it hard for them and try to catch them on the counter. They had a few dangerous players and we knew it was going to be a tough game away from home.

“It was tense when they managed to rack up a few chances early on, but we managed to get a goal through Marcello Trotta just before half-time, which was a crucial time to score considering we had been under the cosh. As any footballer knows, that’s one of the worst times to concede and, when we went in at half-time, we knew we had a chance to win the game.

“After half-time, they came out of the traps, put loads of pressure on us, then there was a scuffle and we had Tarky sent off not long after. The team talk went out of the window at that point and we knew it was going to be difficult to stop them for over 40 minutes.

“We had chances to extend the lead: Judgey hit the post and I had a header that hit one of our players and went wide. I did think, at that point, it wasn’t going to be our day. But we stood firm, defended for our lives, and the fact we were able to hold them off for that length of time showed the desire, grit and determination we had in that squad that year.

“To see all the fans turn up in their numbers was great to see, too. Yes, we got a man sent off, but they counted as that extra man we needed. They were behind us all the way and saw us through the game. The Brentford following was always great during my time at the club and as the game was live on Sky, they could have stayed at home and watched it, but they didn’t.

“That win was massive for us and we knew it. You can see that from the way we celebrated. It was at that point we started to look at each other and realise it might just be our year if we kept it up.”

Alan Judge

“It was a game we were waiting for. We knew we were the better team and we didn’t fear them as we knew, with our style, we’d outplay them eventually if we kept ourselves tight.

“When we went down to 10 men, we played even better. We still had played our football, we still had chances and actually, I hit the post late on in the game. We could have gone on to win quite comfortably.

“I always find it funny when teams give the away side as big a ticket allocation as we had that day, though I suppose it’s financially beneficial. It was like walking out for a home game, the atmosphere was that good! We were lucky to have a lot of players who’d played higher up the leagues who knew these types of games and it didn’t really faze them.

“Mark Warburton always had the same types of meetings before games. He never really got too motivational or too quiet - he was just the same, calm person. There was enough experience to get us going, but it was second against third on TV, so we didn’t need much motivation. We wanted to perform.

“I was up against Moses Odubajo and luckily I had Bidders behind me, which allowed me to play my game and go inside as I was never going to run Moses on the outside!

“We were still confident after Tarky got sent off, but needed five or 10 minutes to re-group and not do anything silly. The last thing you want after going a man down is to be stretched, so we went very compact and Mark made one or two changes to get fresh legs into the team.

“It never felt like we were going to lose the game. A draw wouldn’t have been the end of the world, but to come away with a win meant Orient started to fade away. It was a lot more damaging for them and it galvanised us.

“I think it was more the fans that were aware of what Russell Slade said afterwards. Mark was never one to get involved in that kind of stuff and you never saw him have a bite back in the press. But when you win games with 10 men, you always celebrate them like you’ve won the cup.”

Alan McCormack

“There was a great build-up to this one. We’d been on that very good run over the three months beforehand and we were pretty much neck-and-neck with Orient leading into the last couple of months of the season, so we knew the winner of that game would have a massive advantage over the other in the promotion race.

“It was such a hot day and we brought so many fans with us; I had quite a few family members come over from Ireland, too. The noise and the electricity in the stadium was frightening.

“It was a typical old-school game, more like a Championship game, with two teams playing some great football and vying for promotion. But the pressure didn’t make people crack; it brought the best out of everyone. There were a few heated moments where we were pumped for it and they were too, but that’s the beauty of football.

“For the goal, Marcello Trotta made the run and I put the ball into him, but he missed it. Luckily, Adam Forshaw was just behind him and managed to flick it back. Trotts was always brilliant at pulling the trigger first time from 12 to 18 yards; especially on his left foot, he could find bottom corners through anybody’s legs.

“Thankfully the ball went in - and the rest of the game was a battle, to say the least! I was absolutely shattered towards the end as they were constantly attacking and we tried to catch them on the counter a few times, but it was like running in treacle half the time!

“When the final whistle went, there was a feeling of elation. We knew that was the start of the nail in the coffin for them, but also that we had to still go and chase our points, even though we had a good cushion and games in hand, which was massive.

“It was a real mental win and it couldn’t have come at a better time, but we knew it wasn’t done; it just gave us breathing room.

“Russell Slade’s comments were probably mentioned - and it was probably a good thing that wasn’t the first meeting of the season as we would’ve held onto that. It was certainly not intended to be disrespectful to Leyton Orient in any way. At that stage of the season and with that amount of pressure on the game, it was more about knowing promotion was in our hands.

“With 11 games to go, to put our nearest rivals out of sight was huge. If the boot was on the other foot, I’m sure Slade would have been doing cartwheels across the pitch and we’d have been annoyed. It must have been a very hard pill to swallow.

“We were quite a humble, down-to-earth group, with no arrogance among us, so there were no celebrations or thoughts that we were definitely up. We were back in training on the Monday, thinking about the next test, and focusing on what we did well with small targets and big gains. Warbs was amazing at keeping our feet on the ground and focusing on the next game only.

“Some wins you are going to celebrate because you know there’s huge pressure on you to win that game, so to survive that pressure, survive going down to 10 men and an onslaught, and execute our gameplan made that one of the games for Brentford that sticks in my memory.”