Despite their 1-0 loss away to Middlesbrough in the semi-final of the Under-18 Premier League Cup, Justin Walker was full praise for his team that fought so hard to be in the final.
Derby were the better team and fell victim to an undeserved 118th minute goal which left the Rams just short of a place in the final.
Walker, in the midst of disappointment, felt like his team’s performance deserved more.
He said: “The best team on the day didn’t win the game. I’m delighted and proud by the performance levels of all the lads.
“But goals win you games and unfortunately today we didn’t score, and they did. We’ve done everything but get the ball over the line.”
Derby had their chances too. Tyree Wilson and Eiran Chashin both went close to giving their side the advantage. After this, Walker commended the Middlesbrough goalkeeper and said they need to look back at the game to see where it went wrong in the final third.
“The most difficult thing in football is to score goals but their goalkeeper had a magnificent game,” said Walker.
“We will look back at the game, though, I think there was a lack of composure at times but that shouldn’t take anything away from my team what so ever. I thought they were terrific today.”
The result means that Derby now only have the League to think about. They are currently fourth in the table and face the same opponents (Middlesbrough) in their next game who are just one place below them. A win on Saturday could take the Rams to the top of the Premier League - North.
“I suppose now we can put our full focus on the League but mainly our full attention will be on how well we keep playing and what a great bunch of lads they all are,” said Walker.
“We need to make sure that we keep pushing them, so they get better after each day.”
Walker chose not to focus on the result but rather the manner in which his team played. He gave credit to the opposition for being able to deal with how well his team played.
He added: “I will take that same performance every day, every week. I think that we can all be proud of that. We dominated all aspects of the game but ultimately, they’re in the final and we’re not but fair play to them.”
Words by Joseph Lightfoot