- Leicester City defeated Brentford 2-1 at King Power Stadium on Sunday
- Timothy Castagne and James Maddison hit stunners in City's fourth home win in a row
- Manager Brendan Rodgers credited Leicester's mentality and commitment
- He also commented on the impact being made by players returning from injuries
Timothy Castagne marked his return from a near three-month thigh injury lay-off with a thunderbolt of a strike to put City ahead against Brentford at King Power Stadium on Sunday. A trademark James Maddison free-kick, glided into the top corner, doubled the home side's advantage before the break.
Although Yoane Wissa halved the arrears for the Bees late on in the second half, Leicester were good value for the victory on Filbert Way. It concludes a week which also involved a trip to Rennes on Thursday, where Rodgers' men secured their place in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
"It’s a very, very good win on the back of a tough week that we’ve had," the Foxes manager told LCFC TV. "It was a very good victory for us. We played really well in moments of the first half. We tired a little bit in the second half, gave the ball away too cheaply, so that always invites pressure.
"Overall, the mentality of the team, the commitment of the team, against a team that’s been in form in their last few games, I was really, really pleased with.
"Only two things could have been better. We could have finished more and made the game more comfortable and secondly we could have kept the ball better and controlled the game more in the second half.
"We gave the ball away too many times and then we gave away needless free-kicks, so the ball then comes into the box a great deal more. They’re very good at set-pieces. I thought we defended that really, really well.
"We could have helped ourselves more in the second half, but we had to stand up to it and we did do."
That success over Thomas Frank's side was the second City outing to include a goalscoring return from injury for one of the Club's defenders. While it was Wesley Fofana netting a crucial header in Brittany in midweek, Castagne's stunner added to the positivity created by his recovery.
Centre-back Jonny Evans, on the other hand, featured from the bench for the first time since 12 December.
"The guys are hungry and desperate to come back and you could see that throughout the game," Rodgers continued. "I thought Timothy, who gave us an hour, was outstanding. It was a brilliant goal. He was superb in the game and it’s great to have him back.
"The likes of JJ (James Justin) getting minutes, Jonny coming back, these are really important players for us. It’s great to see them on the field again.
"[Evans] hasn’t played a great deal with the squad to be honest, he hasn’t trained a great deal, but we just wanted to get him 20 to 25 minutes out on the pitch to get his bearings again. He’s an experienced player, he’s going to get his work on the field, so it’s good to have his experience on there again."
With a trip to Manchester United up next, after the international break, and a two-legged last-eight European tie against PSV Eindhoven on the horizon, Rodgers is looking forward to Leicester's end to the season.
"It’s been tough, but it’s a really exciting period ahead for us now," the Northern Irishman explained.
"We need a little bit of recovery. The guys will have a few days off. We’ll get to work again with the players that are still here over the course of the week and then we’ll get them all back in Tuesday and then we’ve got Manchester United and a host of other games that will be fantastic games for us.
"Hopefully we can then finish the season really strong."