Neil Redfearn takes the positives from his first game in charge of Rotherham

He admitted there were similarities between his Millers side and Leeds when he took the reins there, but insisted he was pleased with the performance.

"We looked fragile and unsure but I felt we did enough to get something from the game. We showed a lot of spirit but I was disappointed with the goals," he said.

His first game could not have started in a worse fashion, with Alan Judge giving the Bees the lead with a delightful looping volley from the edge of the box just 67 seconds after he had taken his seat in the dug out.

But his side responded well to Brentford's bright start, carved open a handful of chances and levelled a minute after the restart, Joe Mattock striding through the home midfield to smash home a rising drive from fully 25 yards.

But the Millers' hard work and wasted chances before the break came back to haunt them when Judge demented his claim for a place in the Irish full squad with a deft headed goal midway through the second half.

Redfearn said: "We looked good going forward and created chances but this is only the start of a process. I was pleased with the performance but we have to do more about the goals against and make ourselves harder to beat.

"We also need to be more clinical in front of goal but these are things that have been happening all season and I am still in the process of looking at the players. If some need help we may have to help them."

Redfearn's preparations were hampered by losing Danny Ward in the warm up with a backs spasm, but the hosts just about deserved their win in a game that showed only rare flashes of quality.

Brentford coach Lee Carsley was more interested in the result and the higher intensity from his young side.

"The result was the main thing for us today. We started well and won the ball straight back from the kick off, but we started the second half poorly so we'll talk about that," he said.

"We had a great reaction to the equaliser and to be honest over the 90 minutes. It would be easy to start to have doubts at 1-1 but we knuckled down, got on with it and got our reward for a lot of hard work this week."

Carsley admitted his side looked nervous and struggled to retain the ball at times, but added: "I thought we only did that well for 20 of the 90 minutes - at times we looked a little jittery and nervous - but as your confidence grows you can increase that each game.

"We put a bit more energy in the side today and it showed. Im delighted to have picked up my first win as coach but you don't have long to think about it because I was already thinking about the Wolves game as we walked off the pitch."