Brentford provide opposition weeks after Crystal Palace visit to keep Hawks ticking over with high calibre friendly during extended break from National League South action

Paul Doswell took his squad to take on a strong Bees line-up in a friendly at their training base on Monday.

Striker Scott Rendell's penalty on the hour had briefly brought Hawks level before they eventually fell to a 2-1 defeat against Premier League opponents.

Boss Doswell, whose side will have gone 23 days without a competitive match by the time they visit bottom-side Billericay on Saturday, felt the visit was a 'brilliant exercise'.

And the Hawks boss saw it as crucial getting minutes into his players after such a long lay-off between fixtures, as they took on a Bees side including strikers Yoane Wissa, Marcus Forss and several other players who have featured for Thomas Frank's side in the top-flight this season.

Doswell said: ‘We had a very, very good exercise on Monday. We went to Brentford and played (a friendly) - there were actually seven or eight players who were on the bench against Liverpool - so it was a brilliant exercise.

‘It was a nice training ground, they treated us really well - I actually looked at their side last night (team which lost to Man United) and most of their substitutes played against us - so it was a good visit.

‘Most of the ones who played were on the bench against Liverpool and played a large chunk of Championship games last season, so it was a good exercise.’

It's the second time in a matter of weeks Hawks have faced Premier League opponents in a friendly.

During an extended break between fixtures pre-Christmas Doswell organised for his squad to take on Crystal Palace under-23s at their new training base.

Hawks ran out 2-1 winners in that friendly battle last month with goals from Rendell and Jake Andrews downing the Eagles' young guns.