Brentford manager Dean Smith praised his team’s hard-fought 1-0 win against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night as the Bees stretched their unbeaten run to five games.

Henrik Dalsgaard netted a late winner in a tightly contested match at the City Ground after the hosts hit the woodwork twice.

Brentford continue their run of good form and Smith was proud of his players’ performance in a high intensity fixture.

"I'm really pleased with the effort and the character shown," he said.

"To win three games on the bounce one-nil takes some doing. One-nil is a really tough score to win by, I know it sounds funny but you have to show a lot of character. We had to do that tonight.

“Our game management was excellent. They've hit the woodwork a couple of times, had some speculative efforts but I thought the lads really put themselves on the line today and defended well as a team.

“We tweaked a few things without the ball and it seemed to help us a little bit more in the second half. I thought in that second half we were the team that were pushing on to try and win the game."

It took 81 minutes for the deadlock to be broken but Dalsgaard fired past Forest keeper Costel Pantilimon with a bullet header to seal the win.

"The goal was very crucial," said Smith.

"I think it was important we didn't sit back and soak up pressure. I think we have shown over the last few games that we can hold on to leads when we need to, and we still try to go and get the second goal to kill off the game. Our game management has got so much better."

The Bees face Fulham and Queens Park Rangers over the next two games and Smith claimed they will be crucial in the long-run as the season closes in.

"We know what a tough game Fulham is going to be. They've been playing some terrific football, on an unbelievable run, but it's exciting now.

“I think we've closed the gap and Neil Harris is doing a fantastic job at Millwall and their run is also unbelievable. Hopefully we can go under the radar a little bit and come late.

“We're only four points from the top six, but there's some teams up there on unbelievable runs - including Fulham who we play on Saturday. All we can do it approach each game and try to win it.”