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Martin Allen vowed not to let slip the good work which had seen the Bees finish 2004 in 8th place despite several sloppy defeats at Griffin Park and several hammerings away from home.
Confidence was high and surprisingly the sun was out as 2005 began in Bournmouth for the Bees when we took on a Cherries side struggling for form.
For the first time this season a Bees player scored two in one game, although the strikes by Rankin weren't enough for the Bees to be beaten 3-2 at the Fitness First Stadium.
Back to 'the home of football' and it took a scrappy deflected goal to get Brentford's first win in 2005, Walsall the beaten side as we moved back up to 8th.
The traditional first full weekend in January FA Cup fixtures were next as Brentford were drawn against more League One opponents in the shape of Luton Town, in a suprisingly simple fashion Brentford won 2-0 away from home and progressed to round four.
Up next came an away game at Vale Park where we beat Port Vale 1-0, Hutchinson scoring the winner after a good build up on the right hand side. Things continued to improve as Brentford won their second game in a row against Swindon Town 2-1 to shoot themselves into 6th place in front on over 6,000 people.
To keep their run going Brentford drew 1-1 against Barnsley at Griffin Park before the fourth round FA Cup game against yet another League One side, Hartlepool.
Poor conditions at Griffin Park after much play on the surface this month led to neither side being able to create many chances and the game was sent to a reply in February.
January however had seen an improvement in the Bees form, they were still hovering around the relegation places and only inconsistency could surely halt the Bees progress up the table, as the season wore in the Bees seemed to improve, highlighted by a win against Luton in the FA Cup a side which had outclassed them in the previous month.