Brentford boss Mark Warburton hailed his side’s fighting spirit after watching the perfect response to the defeat at Huddersfield.

Goals from Jonathan Douglas, Andre Gray and Jota buried Blackburn Rovers 3-1 at Griffin Park on Saturday, keeping the Bees firmly ensconced in the Championship play-offs.

After winning five games on the spin, the run was ended by the Terriers leaving the Bees’ rivals hoping for a mini-collapse.

However, it was not to be and Warburton was left delighted with his players’ response.

“It was a tough challenge, but I am very proud of the players,” Warburton said.

“They had that good run for five games and then the defeat.

“People would have been looking at Brentford and asking how will they respond to that defeat.

“So I was absolutely delighted with them.”

He added: “Blackburn was always going to be a physical game, they have big physical specimens in Shane Duffy and Rudy Gestede.

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“But we showed that we are up for the battle, that we can handle ourselves when clubs play that way.

“But we can also play football, and it does not matter how tall you are if you have the football.”

Douglas fired Rovers ahead and Brentford appeared to be heading into the break with a slender lead before Gestede’s effort deflected off Harlee Dean for the equaliser.

After the break, Gray fired Bees back in front, and Jota made the points safe with the third on the hour-mark.

Warburton said: “The only disappointment from the first half was that we had conceded a goal.

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“Harlee was disappointed, but he had no need to be. I thought he and Tony Craig were excellent.

“The message at half-time was just carry on doing what you are doing.”

Gray, who now has eight league goals to his name, said: “The dressing room was buzzing after the game.

“We needed to put in a performance after losing at Huddersfield where we were a bit unlucky.

“We were disappointed to go into half-time level, but they had one chance and took it, that is the thing about the Championship, you will get punished.”

He added: “But the way we responded sends out a message to the rest of the league, showing just what a good team we are.”

Brentford go to Cardiff City this weekend, ahead of the Boxing Day visit of Ipswich Town and the trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers on December 28.