Manager Frank Lampard conceded his side were second-best as Derby County were beaten 2-0 by Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Two late goals by Joe Rothwell and Bradley Dack secured the points for Rovers on an evening to forget for the Rams and the manager admitted his side were beaten by the better side.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” Lampard told RamsTV. “The first half was relatively close, we had a couple of chances, but I thought we played too safe, too sideways and sometimes backwards. That allowed them to put some pressure on us at different times.
“In the second half, they were better. They won second balls, were more physical and they deserved to win.
“If you make mistakes you will get hurt and that is what happened. At times we defended our box alright but if you keep inviting pressure then that can happen.”
Lampard made changes in the second half and brought on Mason Bennett, Duane Holmes and David Nugent in a bid to change the flow of the game.
“We tried to turn it around at half time and inject more urgency in our game, that was the message to our players but unfortunately we couldn’t do that today,” he said.
“We made changes to try and get us up the pitch and get a bit of pace up front with Mason up front and Duane in midfield but momentum had swung against us and the subs didn’t really effect in the way we wanted them to.”
With six games of the season remaining, the manager is keen to move on and focus solely on the upcoming fixtures.
“It’s not a time of the season to dwell or be negative,” he commented. “It’s a time to look at what’s in front of us. Other teams will drop points in this run-in, without a doubt, but we don’t want to keep having that conversation.
“The draw at Brentford I could accept, I was more frustrated because I thought we should have won the game but tonight I cant be. I’m just disappointed in our own performance so we certainly need to turn it around in the next couple of days against Bolton.
“We need to turn it around and that’s down to myself and us as a group. Our last home performance was good, if we get anywhere near that at the weekend against Bolton at Pride Park then we will be alright.”