Brentford head coach Thomas Frank saw his side clock up a sixth straight win since the restart, but admitted there were a few worrying first-half signs in his team's performance.
The Bees eased a 3-1 win over Derby County thanks to two second-half Said Benrahma strikes as they continue to pile the pressure on Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion in the automatic promotion places.
Ollie Watkins opened the scoring after just three minutes before Jason Knight levelled just before the half-hour mark. Benraham's brace after the interval - including a goal of the season contender for his second - sealed the points, but Frank admitted their first-half performance was far from perfect.
"I think we deserved to win," he told Sky Sports after the match. "But I'd like us to control even more. I think we forced too much and instead of keeping the all, just know that spaces are going to open up. Not that it because dangerous, but just like control it even more.
I think the first half was the worst half of the six games since the restart. Not top rhythm and we get an early goal, a beautiful goal, a fantastic goal. I know it's a tap-in in the end, but the play around it is all what we want. We keep the ball , we try to create, we lose it, we counter press, we win it and we play a beautiful pass for a run in behind and then a tap in. But for us it was a little bit back and fourth and we lacked the quality to kill some top counter opportunities.
"On the pressure, I think we didn't have the intensity we normally have. But we also need to admit that Derby are a good side. They are good on the ball and if you give them time and space they can create. But the second half I think we started better and we came out much stronger and after the 2-1 goal I think we were on top again."
Frank's side again had the advantage of playing in one of Saturday's early kick-offs and ahead of their rivals as the Championship season enters the home straight.
"I'd be lying if I said I won't be checking the results, we always do after each round, that's the natural thing," Frank added.
"We can only do what we are doing, win our games and then onto the next one. If we catch them or not we are ready to go into the play-offs with top momentum and I think that's just as important.
"From the first four games, we've played with some top performances overall. It was a different top performance against Charlton, showing our resilience and we kept going against a side that was tough to break down.
"Today was another challenge and we managed it so I'm very pleased with the team."
