Josh McEachran thinks he is close to a first-team return after four months out with an ankle injury as he came through the Development Squad’s trip to Millwall yesterday.

The 22-year-old midfielder joined The Bees from Chelsea in the summer but picked up an injury in July which has sidelined him since.

He made his Development Squad reappearance last Monday and was named on the bench for Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship win over Milton Keynes Dons before getting through 90 minutes in the 1-0 defeat to Millwall on Monday.

Speaking to Bees Player after the match Josh said he feels he is getting back to full fitness and is raring to get back into the first-team fold.

“Four months is a long time to be out but I felt today that I played a good 90 minutes,” said Josh. “I feel fit now so I just want to be back involved with the first team. I was on the bench on Saturday when Alan McCormack went down injured. Hopefully I can be on the bench again, get some minutes and then go on from there. I was gutted when I got injured. I had just signed and was coming back in pre-season. I was devastated but now I feel like I am ready and I want to be involved.”

Josh had mixed emotions after Monday’s defeat at The Den, Lee Martin’s second-half goal deciding matters in a game which The Bees did more than enough to win.

While the former England U21 International was pleased with individual performances in the match he admitted that it was disappointing to have nothing, in terms of points, to show for it.

“I feel good but a little bit tired,” said Josh. “That is my first 90 minutes in four months now so I feel good. It was just disappointing that we didn’t get the result as I thought we played some really good stuff but we let in a sloppy goal. I thought we dominated them but the communication should have been better for the goal. We are disappointed and Kevin O’Connor is disappointed but apart from the result I thought that everyone did really well.”

Dean Smith was confirmed as the club’s new Head Coach last week and Josh said he is looking forward to playing Smith’s style of football which he feels will suit him well.

“Dean Smith has been good since coming in,” said Josh. “All the lads seem to get on with him and he wants to play the right way. He wants to play through the midfield which is perfect for me and I am looking forward to working with him. I came to Brentford because they are a ball playing team and they like to go through midfield. I didn’t want to go to a team that went long. Dean has come in after Lee Carsley picked us up and hopefully we can go further.”

Bees Player subscribers can listen to the full interview below