Brentford’s Development Squad were in charge of their under-21 Professional Development League Two South match against Ipswich Town on Tuesday, until a red card changed the course of the game.

That was the opinion of Stuart English, Head of Coaching at Brentford’s Academy, who spoke to Bees Player after the match.

The Bees were 1-0 up when George Pilbeam was sent off for a second bookable offence.

He had been booked in the first half and went to charge down Ipswich goalkeeper Scott Loach.

He dived in, caught the goalkeeper, was shown a second yellow card and dismissed.

Ipswich scored four goals in the last 15 minutes to take the win.

“It was a different game after the sending off,” said Stuart after the match.

“We struggled to deal with it.

“Before the sending off I thought we were in charge of the game.

“We were comfortable at 1-0 and playing some good football.

“I thought we were good for that 65 minutes.

“We worked very hard on and off the ball.

“On the ball we created a few chances, not loads.

“We were calm in possession and got at them down the sides with the wide players.

“When we lost possession we fought to win it back.”

Stuart said George, who was promoted from the Youth Team for the match, would learn from the dismissal.

He said he had played well prior to the sending off.

“We will have a chat with him,” said Stuart.

“The first booking, I thought was a little bit harsh but the second one was a booking.

“He had to be sent off.

“George has an unbelievable attitude.

“All over the game he would press and force mistakes.

“This is part of his learning.

“Next time he presses a goalkeeper he won’t jump in.

“He will learn from it and we will talk to him.”

Brentford had taken a first half lead through Alfie Mawson and were well on top before the red card.

Ipswich had created little and although Brentford had not made lots of chances, they were in the ascendency and dominating possession and territory.

Stuart said there was a lapse in concentration after the red card and silly mistakes cost The Bees.

“Our concentration slipped a bit,” said Stuart.

“We also had to make changes due to injuries and that affected us.

“Ultimately we switched off when we needed not to.

“They got the momentum and the goals followed.

“I thought we were on top for 65 and then we lost a player and dropped off.

“There were silly mistakes that cost us goals.

“I don’t think it was a 4-1 game and their coach said the same at the end.”

Ipswich included Republic of Ireland internationals Stephen Hunt and Alan Lee in their team as well as former England Under-21 goalkeeper Scott Loach.

Stuart said there were things Brentford’s young team could learn from their older opponents but they did well.

“I think the younger players coped really well with the game,” he said.

“They pressed them and fought, which is the bear minimum.

“And when they got on the ball they had real quality.

“We could have kept the ball better and penetrated more but we played some good football.

“The experience the Ipswich players had compared to our guys will help our players learn.

“They had little tricks, buying free kicks, things like that.

“It’s invaluable for our players to learn.”

Bees Player subscribers can see a full video interview with Stuart English here.