Brentford boss Dean Smith says his players will benefit from the Bees' pre-season training camp in Germany, despite an injury to highly-rated defender Chris Mepham.

Brentford suffered a 2-1 defeat to German side Karlsruhe SC on Saturday as Smith made nine changes at half-time in front of over 100 travelling Bees fans.

Striker Ollie Watkins, 22, scored five minutes before the end after second-half strikes from Malik Batmaz and David Pisot put Karlsruhe ahead.

Brentford started the brighter of the two sides and ought to have gone ahead when Lewis Macleod couldn’t turn home following a goalmouth scramble.

There were suspicions of an offside in the lead up to Karlsruhe’s opener but there were no doubts about the second when Pisot rose highest to a corner.

Watkins restored some order late on with a sublime individual effort after cutting in from the left flank.

After the game, Smith praised the effort that his players showed throughout the pre-season excursion.

“It was a training game for us and getting ready for August 4th,” said Smith.

“Unfortunately, we got beat, but it tells us an awful lot about the players.

“There were a lot of players coming to the fore and getting the minutes that they need.

“They’ve been a credit the players. They have worked really hard and they went into this game slightly fatigued, but it has been very useful for us.”

Captain John Egan missed the clash with an Achilles injury and Mepham was sidelined after sustaining a shoulder ligament injury midweek.

The 20-year-old Welsh international was the subject of a £10m bid from Premier League side Bournemouth last month, which Brenftord rejected.

“Chris Mepham unfortunately hurt his shoulder in training on Wednesday,” said Smith.

“He got a whack on the shoulder but fortunately, he’s had an X-ray over here and there was nothing fractured or untoward.

“It’s the ligaments that might take a couple of weeks to sort out. It’s an unfortunate collision that happens in training.

“We had to change the second-half team an hour before the game because John Egan had to pull out with an Achilles injury.”