Midfielder Jason Knight was left frustrated after Derby County fell to a 1-0 home defeat against Watford at Pride Park Stadium.
Derby had defended well throughout the game but were undone by Joao Pedro’s brilliance late in the encounter at Pride Park Stadium.
The Hornets' attacker whipped a 20-yard strike into the top corner, leaving goalkeeper David Marshall with no chance, as Watford gained the three points on Friday night.
Knight, who had made his senior debut for the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday, put in another solid and energetic display for the Rams as they were left disappointed at full-time.
“It was a good goal for them but a disappointing goal to give away for us because we thought as a group we had done really well defensively in the game,” he told RamsTV. “For that to be the winning goal, it was heart breaking.
“I thought the boys at the back were excellent, especially the three centre-halves. It was just a moment of brilliance from the lad to win them the game.
“I think we have a lot of positives to take from the game. Obviously, we need to start converting these chances into goals but I think you can see and the fans can see that there is a good uplift in our performances in the last two matches.
“It is hard not to get down because you want to be winning games all the time, but you can see the performances are getting better and it is just about putting those performances into wins now.”
Skipper Wayne Rooney went the closest for Derby in the second half as his fre- kick went narrowly over the crossbar, whilst Tom Lawrence also saw a chance saved by Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster and Rooney also shot wide from inside the box.
The Rams have the chance to move on quickly as they travel to the John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday to face Huddersfield Town (7:45pm kick-off).
“There are a lot of games coming up so putting two results together can put you right up the table, so we just need to focus on Tuesday now and try and get the win,” Knight admitted.
“It is a huge game, we know we need to go there and get a
positive result and we will try and do that.”