International breaks often leave managers sweating, but Mark Waburton is only too pleased to put his feet up and watch his star men in action.

Bees stars Alex Pritchard, Moses Odubajo, Stuart Dallas , Will Grigg and Daniel O’Shaughnessy have spent this week with their respective representative squads ahead of next Friday’s Championship grudge match at Fulham.

Odubajo played the full 90 minutes of his England U20’ debut in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Mexico – that ended in a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win for the hosts.

Injuries to him, England U21 star Pritchard and Northern Ireland’s Dallas – in particular – while on international duty this weekend would strike a significant blow to the club’s play-off aspirations.

But Warburton, who revealed Chris Long returned to Griffin Park from England U20s this week with tightness in his hamstring, is accentuating the positive.

“I’ll be watching them all closely to see how they get on, “ he said.

“It is good experience for the players, which is only good for the club.

“It is a credit to them and the club that they are getting the recognition.

“I am no more concerned than I would be, but, of course, you always have your fingers crossed.”

Brentford battled back from 2-0 down against Millwall on Saturday thanks to late goals from Pritchard and Odujajo, but the points was not enough to stop Brentford slipping to seventh in the league table.

From back page Three points against one the Championship’s strugglers would have put the Bees fifth in the table and only three points off the top two.

But Warburton insisted fans must retain some perspective.

“It is a sliding scale and the table is very fluid,” he added.

“There are no easy teams in this league.

“There are some big clubs with big budgets at the bottom, who are scrapping for their lives. Things can change very quickly.”

Sam Saunders and Nico Yennaris have extended their loan deals at Wycombe Wanderers until the end of the season, but the Bees have retained a 24 hour call back clause.