Millwall manager Ian Holloway heaped praise on Brentford and their manager Mark Warburton after the Lions’ London rivals came out on top 3-2 in an entertaining game at The Den.

In an afternoon which saw Millwall pay tribute to those who lost their lives 100 years ago, an Andre Gray double gave the visitors a two-goal cushion before two goals inside two minutes for Millwall restored parity.

The fightback was on when Lee Gregory poked home before an Alan Dunne effort levelled matters. Five minutes later, Gray’s low cross was turned home by Lions’ defender Danny Shittu for the visitors to gain all three points.

Speaking to the assembled media after the match, Holloway admitted Brentford were good value for their victory.

“There’s a lot of brains about what Brentford are doing,” he said. “That’s what I think and the stats will show you.

“When you look at Watford, they’ve got more expensive players than us.

“It’s good if you can but you’ve got to have a structure to play to and a way of doing it and they’re as good as anybody. Their downfall will be whether they believe that.”

“We should stick to our game plan and we didn’t have it right for the first couple of minutes.

“I didn’t want their left sided centre half getting it. We wanted to channel it to their left back. We worked on it – two wide men started on the wrong side. My team didn’t organise that.”

Brentford constantly closed down Millwall and were dominant for large spells of the game, barring the two minutes that saw the Lions level.

And Holloway continued to Laud Warburton and the affect he has had since his arrival at the Bees.

“Fair play to them,” Holloway said. “I knew how good they were by watching them.

“He’s about three or four years ahead of me in what he wants to do and I’m giving the credit to Mark because he must have been doing a job above their last manager, setting things up and their players know exactly how to close, who to close, when to close.

“They lost their best player in Douglas and they came here and I knew they were going to pick our pockets but we talked about what we needed to do, who we needed to get on the ball.

“They know they’ve been in a game but everybody should start looking at what a fantastic job they’re doing.

“I’m a little jealous because their players know how to press and when to press. They’ve lost one of their best organisers and they can still do that.”

Holloway added: “That’s the only team who have deserved to beat us. I’ve watched it, you’ve watched it – did they really? I thought a draw would have been a fairer result.

“They’re ahead of us, well done to them and they aren’t little Brentford any more.

“It’s their structure. I know what that man knows and it’s very very good.

“I know he must have ways of explaining it from top to bottom.

“They’ve invested in the academy and put that way of playing into their players. What their right centre back did and the centre midfielder.

“I know that’s a higher level as I’m used to and as high a level as I’ve come up against.

“Their manager [Mark Warburton] has had five years. He was putting in place this structure. Rosler went. It was a fantastic appointment by their owner.”