After a night he will not forget in a hurry, Brentford defender Harlee Dean declared: “We’re not a little team here for the fun of it.”

The 23-year-old endured the lows and highs of Championship football in Friday’s dramatic 2-1 London derby win over Fulham.

Having gifted the visitors the opening goal, Dean atoned for his error in clinical fashion with the equaliser, before Jota’s last-gasp winner lifted the roof off Griffin Park.

Boss hails his stars after night of drama and victory over rivals - That's the Bees way

Bees have now won four Championship games on the spin, and belief in the side could not be higher.

Dean said: “We’ve played the big teams and we’ve beaten them.

“We’re not a little team here for the fun of it, we play some of the best football in the league, and teams are worried about coming to Griffin Park, and maybe even worried about us coming to play them.”

Dean’s strike was his first in the league this season, and it could not have been more timely following his error 24 minutes earlier.

“I would clear that ball 99 times out of 100, but the one time I didn’t, it leads to a goal. I felt like an idiot who had let everyone down,” he said.

“Afterwards I thought if I don’t do something I am going to be out of the team next week.

“I managed to get myself in the box and someone was looking down on me because the ball fell to me and I put it in the top corner.

“It was an unbelievable feeling.”

He added: “Everything happens for a reason – Scott Parker missed the ball into the penalty area, would he normally do that? And it fell to me and I’ve put it in the top corner, would I normally do that?”

Jota’s late winner came as no surprise to Dean, reminding him of the belief in the side that won promotion last season and which is starting to blossom again.

“My goal gave the crowd a boost, and they were rocking,” he said.

“We have a lot of belief now and we know we can get late goals, it’s a little bit like the year we went up, even if we’re losing we feel like we’re going to win.”

Next up for Dean and co is Wolves at Griffin Park on Saturday, and the former Bees loanee is wary of the visitor’s recent poor form in conceding 10 goals in the past three games.

He said: “Wolves were one of the last teams to beat us at Griffin Park in the league, so it will be a test whatever their form.”