Nathan Collins’ headed goal was all that separated Brentford and QPR at Loftus Road as two new managers geared up for the start of the season.
While it was only a slender win for Andrews’ Premier League side, he still saw plenty of reason to be happy with the display away from home.
"It was a good representation of where we’re at as a group three quarters of the way through pre-season," Andrews told Brentford’s website.
“We’re 15 days away from Nottingham Forest and I think you could see where we’re functioning really well.
“Physically, I thought we looked strong, we looked athletic, we looked like we had really good structure with and without the ball.”
Andrews was appointed manager in June, taking over from the departing Thomas Frank, who left to take up the managerial vacancy at Tottenham Hotspur.
It leaves big shoes to fill in Andrews’ first season as a head coach, but he has already identified where he wants to see improvement before Brentford travel to the City Ground on the opening day of the season.
“The area of fine tuning was that last little bit of quality; the final third, that little pass, that decision, that real conviction of going and getting the second and third goal,” he explained.
“We knew it was going to be a proper game with an edge. When it got tetchy, we fronted that and equally, didn’t get carried away. We remained really calm and confident in what we were doing and how we were going about things."
Kayode ➡️ Collins ➡️ Back of net pic.twitter.com/0aFN3vi0EX
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) August 2, 2025
QPR also face the prospect of a new manager heading into their Championship season as Marti Cifuentes departed to Leicester City.
And Julien Stephan, whose last managerial appointment was at Rennes, is equally hopeful after the slender defeat to Brentford.
“It was a tough game because we played against a very good team - a Premier League team. So, we knew at the beginning that it was probably a tough game. It was difficult,” he admitted to BBC Sport.
“But I liked how the players stayed all together until the last second, even if we can improve with the ball, especially in the final third. But they stayed all together with a very good mindset.
“It is a good base for us, but we have to improve with the ball to create more danger.”
The R’s will kick off their season when they welcome Preston North End to Loftus Road on 9 August.
Despite a poor start they rallied to achieve a respectable 15th-place finish last term and Stephan will hope he can find the formula to ensure they do not follow the familiar pattern of starting slowly this time out.
But it was an early goal that cost them against Brentford as Collins glanced in Michael Kayode’s cross inside the first two minutes to provide what would transpire as the only goal of the game.
“I’m disappointed because we worked on that last training, especially how we have to be organised on the second ball from a long throw-in,” reflected Stephan.
“We did a mistake so I’m a little bit disappointed, but I prefer to have the mistake today and next week to do better in this situation because Preston will probably also use a long throw.
“If I had to choose, I would prefer to concede [against Brentford in pre-season] than against Preston and I hope we will improve.”