Neil MacFarlane hailed Brentford B's defensive effort as being the deciding factor as they beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the Premier League Cup. 

Captain Alex Gilbert bagged a brace and Kyreece Lisbie scored off the bench for the young Bees side despite Tommi O'Reilly having scored a late goal for the home side. 

The win takes Brentford top of the group and MacFarlane was full of praise for how his side played without the ball to get them there. 

Speaking to club media, he said: "I thought we dominated towards the end of the first half, but the second half became a different type of game. 

"At times we were in a low block to counter and looked a real threat in that respect as that got us both of our goals, but when we were in there we defended really well. 

"I thought our back three cleared everything tonight, both from set plays and in open play they dealt with everything great, but the whole team out of possession were outstanding, especially in the second half 

"Coxy [Matt Cox] had to deal with a few [shots] from 25 yards and overall our shape was fantastic tonight out of possession. 

"We have worked really hard on this 343 in recent weeks and in possession we are a real threat going forwards at the moment. 

"But the encouraging part was without the ball we suffered at times and we were there for each other within that shape to get another terrific result on the back of Blackburn in this tournament." 

MacFarlane was also very pleased with how Gilbert is becoming a consistent goal scorer over recent matches. 

He said: "[Gilbert was] really clinical. All you can ask of a forward player is to score and he is scoring in every game. 

"That front three of Gilbz [Gilbert], Yehor [Yarmoliuk], and Trev [Ryan Trevitt] over the last three weeks have been a real potent force. 

"But they are ably aided from behind, I thought that every single player gave their max tonight and you need to do that in these types of games. It was a really intense game of football and a really enjoyable game. 

"We were a real threat on the counter attack and that led to Alex [Gilbert] nicking it around the goalkeeper and getting a second goal. 

"Even after we had conceded, towards the end we got that third and decisive goal."