Manager Frank Lampard admitted Derby County were beaten by the better side following their 2-0 defeat against league-leaders Leeds United at Elland Road on Friday evening.
Kemar Roofe put the Whites ahead in the first half, whilst Jack Harrison doubled the lead a minute into the second half.
Derby pushed to get themselves back into the game but it was not to be for Lampard’s side as they tasted defeat for the first time in 2019.
“It was a disappointing night,” the manager conceded during his RamsTV interview.
“We didn’t perform from the first minute until the last. I would say it was our worst performance, albeit against a top team in the league.
“You can lose here but you can lose here playing better than how we played, because we didn’t play well at all. That’s not been the norm for us, we have been playing good football for large portions of the season.
“We have been playing good football, we have good work rate and all those things - but we got beaten in every department today.
“When you come here you have to leave everything out on the pitch and I wouldn’t say it’s a desire problem of the players but you have to match up on the ball and off the ball.
“You need to have personality on the ball to keep playing against a team that makes it difficult for you to play. I would rather see us playing better than we did but we have to move on."
He added: “It won’t be a nice trip home because this is football and we care. I know the fans care and from our point of view I’m sorry for that because we are trying to do the right thing here.
“The lads are a really good bunch. We had a bad night tonight, that will happen in football, so we must now be big and brave and take the beating on our chin and move on.
“You can lose here and there is no point duelling on it forever, but we have to take it on the chin and look forward.”