Jonathan Douglas is ready to lead a Brentford charge in the Championship, as they prepare for their first season in the second tier for 21 years.

The former Republic of Ireland international netted in the 3-2 pre-season win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, and believes the strength of the Bees squad lies in their fearlessness.

“We’ve got a young squad who aren’t really daunted by anything, as you can see by the way we played against Palace and at the end of last season when the pressure was on us,” he said.

“We’re not too worried about a lack of Championship experience as we have a squad that is capable of going anywhere and putting on a performance.

“I’m really looking forward to it.

“We’ve had a good pre-season and worked really hard, in a good way. We’ve also stayed relatively injury free so we’re all prepared.”

He added: “If we could have a good season and finish mid-table that would be good for us to kick on.

“We know we’ve got a squad capable of doing anything and what we want to achieve in this league, so with a bit of luck who knows what will happen.”

New signings Andre Gray and Moses Odubajo were also on target in the win over the Eagles, with Odubajo’s fine solo winner the pick of the bunch.

Douglas is convinced that thanks to the new faces, goals are sure to come for the west-London side.

“Going forward we look pretty good. It’s an exciting new strike force we have and we look good at the back too. I also thought [Alan] Judge and [Stuart] Dallas both played well today.

“It was a good test for us against a good side so to come away with the win is always nice, but the most important thing is to get another 90 minutes and get our fitness up for next week.

“We’re very excited to have the new boys in. The two of them took their goals well, and we’ve got all the lads we had last year too so it’s a good blend.”

Brentford will be hoping to start this season as they finished the last when they welcome Charlton to Griffin Park on Saturday, and Douglas is hoping for a packed house for the London derby.

Bees goalkeeper David Button is also full of confidence ahead of the big kick-off.

The shot-stopper joined the Bees from this weekend’s opposition Charlton last year, and believes this side has what it takes to compete in the higher league.

He said: “We’ve got to take some confidence into the season off the back of how we played last year and pre-season.

“It’s not all about avoiding relegation. The gaffer has made it perfectly clear that he wants to give it a good go.

“Where that takes us we’ll see, but to say that we just want to avoid relegation would not do ourselves justice.”

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Shot-stopper: David Button