Head Coach Paul Warne felt his Derby County side ‘dug in when they needed to and managed the game well’ to pick up all three points in their 3-1 success at Fleetwood Town on Saturday.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing opened the scoring with a cool finish into the bottom corner just before the half hour before James Collins added a second with a flicked header in first-half injury time for his 16th goal of the campaign.
Jayden Stockley pulled a goal back for Fleetwood with a header after 76 minutes, but a 90th-minute tap-in from substitute Tom Barkhuizen secured the three points.
The win was Derby’s fifth in a row on the road, a run stretching back to the end of October, and their ninth in total away from Pride Park Stadium this season as they showed an immediate response to the late 3-2 home reverse against Peterborough United on New Year’s Day.
Warne spoke to RamsTV after the final whistle to review the clash with the Cod Army at Highbury Stadium.
On the game…
I am relieved, that is the best way to explain it. We were pretty handsome in the first half; other than the fact we didn’t start the game that well as Fleetwood won a few headers and got in behind our backline. After that, we looked good value for being 2-0 up at half-time. We needed to get the third goal but, as you would expect, Fleetwood came back into it and put crosses and set pieces into the box. We dealt with them reasonably well and then we got done with a header from Stockley from a good cross. That made things a bit more frantic than we needed them to be and allowed Fleetwood back into it, which is down to us over complicating things a little bit. To get the late goal to seal the win was great.
On getting back on winning trail straight away…
You just want to win games. You’re going to lose matches and you must accept that as a manager and get on with it. When you lose, you feel the pain but then you need to focus on the next fixture. You can feel sorry for yourself at times, but you can’t really. You must be positive, encourage the lads and tell them how good they are. I don’t think we were right ‘on song’ today but these are hard games to play in and can be a bit more random. When the game kicks off, it isn’t 3rd against 24th, it is just ‘game on’ and anyone can beat anyone else in League One. It can come down to a set piece or something like that and teams will come to Fleetwood and lose this season. These three points are great because they’re worth the same as winning at Wigan or Oxford. The lads dug in when they were asked a few questions, which is pleasing, and managed the game pretty well. The clock ran down quite nicely to be honest.
On picking a more physical side to face Fleetwood…
We picked the biggest team we had today as we knew Fleetwood were very strong on set pieces. We’ve been criticised, rightly so, for not being in the fight in the losses at Shrewsbury and Stevenage earlier this season. In League One, you have to win the fight first before trying to win the game. That’s why we picked players to be strong on set pieces in both boxes. We got a goal via a set play from Collo which was nice and the other two were equally as pleasing as you need to get down the other end of the pitch by hook-or-by-crook at times.
On the goalkeeper change with Josh Vickers replacing Joe Wildsmith…
It wasn’t easy and I don’t enjoy dropping anyone or changing anything for the sake of it. I probably give things too much thought, which drives me insane. Joe trained on Thursday and didn’t look at one hundred per cent, so I just felt it was an opportunity to let Josh play. Collectively, we agreed on that and it wasn’t through charity. You can’t carry any passengers. If my striker had a bad ankle, I wouldn’t play him. Fozzy had a sore calf at half-time, so we took him off. Why take the risk? It is the same in every position and it is about winning football matches.
On the away form this season…
We have maybe had a kinder bounce of the ball this season because I am not sure what I can put the away form down to. We’ve been with the lads that bit longer, so maybe they have a clearer understanding of what we want from them as players. Our better players have probably played better, and we’ve kept them reasonably fit and in a good place. Psychology is key in football and perhaps when the players leave the dressing room believing more they’re going to win. The proof is in the pudding because if you’re told you’re going to win and you do, it makes a difference. We have done well on the road and, when we’ve needed to, we’ve dug in and defended really well as a team. If you do that, it gives you a much better chance of winning matches.