Gary Rowett has praised the edge and motivation his Derby County players had to their game as they bounced back to winning ways in emphatic fashion on Friday night.
The Rams swept recently relegated Hull City aside at Pride Park Stadium by recording a thoroughly deserved 5-0 win, with four of those goals coming in a ruthless first half showing.
Matej Vydra and Bradley Johnson both bagged braces, whilst Curtis Davies, the defender, also got in on the act by scoring his first goal in Derby colours, ironically against his former club.
Rowett, the Rams’ manager, demanded a reaction prior to the match and there is no doubt that his players delivered.
“It’s never nice going into the international break on a defeat, not least a poor defeat in the way that it happened,” he told RamsTV.
“It has been a long two weeks, particularly with the transfer window and the way that it ended up but we had to bounce back and we had to show some resolve.
“We lost Andre Wisdom to illness just before kick-off so we had to make some changes but I thought the players went about their work fantastically well and you could see that there was a real motivation to put things right.
“You could see there was a real edge about our play, particularly out of possession, and we were really, really, creative with the ball.
“They were real quality goals that we scored and the other pleasing thing we that there were a couple of set piece goals as well; those are the things that we needed to add.”
Rowett reserved a word for Vydra as the Czech Republic international’s fine form in front of goal continued.
The 25-year-old’s brace took his tally to four for the 2017/18 campaign and the player himself admitted post-game that his showing against Hull was his best since joining Derby in August 2016.
Rowett believes Vydra’s recent form boils down to belief.
He added: “I spent a little bit of time with Vyds (Matej Vydra) talking to him to try and give him that belief. The one thing that I said was that I know he will score goals.
“We’ve also been working on his defensive side because I believe if you go and make a block or a tackle, it gives you confidence and we know that with a bit of time, he can push on.”
Rowett made two changes to his starting line-up ahead of the Friday night showdown with Hull.
The 43-year-old had already revealed that Tom Lawrence was going to make his first League start, but he was also forced into a late change as Andre Wisdom phoned in sick an hour before the team sheets went in.
Chris Baird, the former Northern Ireland international, came in and, typically, delivered a fine performance at right back.
Both displays, naturally, left Rowett delighted.
He said: “Tom Lawrence is a terrific talent, that’s why we pursued him for so long.
“I think you look at the price tag now and think that it could be looking like a bargain even though it has only been one game.
“He is probably naturally better on the left in terms of a goal threat, but when he plays on the right, what he does is he puts quality into the box.
“I’m really pleased with his performance.
“Bairdy (Chris Baird) was brilliant. It’s as simple as that.
“The illness to Andre (Wisdom) gave Chris the opportunity but in all fairness, it’s probably very unlucky that he didn’t start the season but we just felt that with Cyrus Christie going out, we needed to add a younger full-back because as a team we have experience.
“I think Andre has been good in the opening games, but Bairdy came in and was excellent.
“We can now enjoy the weekend a little bit now.”