Ben Strevens admits he shed few tears when John Akinde was sent packing back to Bristol City after his recent unsuccessful loan spell.

Despite revealing last month that he had been tracking the burly frontman for close to two years, Bees boss Andy Scott wasted little time in sending Akinde on his way at the end of his two-game, one-month deal.

And, having seen the door to partnering Charlie McDonald in the Brentford frontline re-open, fellow striker Strevens has vowed to make the most of his second chance.

He said: “If John was totally honest I am sure he would say the loan did not go as well as he would have liked.

“He did not really perform that great and it was difficult for him.

“It was very stop-start when he joined us and he never really got used to the system that we have here.

“There is no doubt he is a decent player and I am sure he will do well elsewhere but it did not work out for him here and I am grateful for that.

“If he had come here and set the world on fire I might have been on the outside looking in but now I have another opportunity.”

Strevens returned to the line-up in the recent 2-1 defeat at Walsall, making his 17th appearance of the season.

And with just three goals to his name to date, the 29-year-old accepts he has under-performed.

Strevens added: “I worked really hard to get myself fit after my injury and the first five or six games I played I felt really good and did well.

“But since then things have dipped.

“To only have three goals at this stage of a season is very disappointing and I am not happy with that at all.”

Having seen their past two clashes, against Colchester and Tranmere, fall foul of the weather Brentford will hope to return to action this weekend with a trip to Elland Road to face title hopefuls Leeds United.

And, having held the League One heavyweights to a 0-0 draw at Griffin Park back in December, Strevens insists the Bees will not head up to Yorkshire with any inferiority complex.

He added: “When we played them earlier this season we did really well so we have nothing to fear.

“Obviously it will be a tough game and we can expect to spend a lot of our time defending but I would not expect anything else going to Leeds.

“We have to approach it the same as when we went to Norwich recently as we did really well there.

“Everyone in the squad is really excited about the game - I know when I was mulling coming to Brentford in the summer playing the likes of Leeds at Elland Road was one of the deciding factors and I cannot wait.”

Brentford’s next three matches: Mar 6 Leeds United (a), 13 MK Dons (h), 16 Brighton (a)