Eiran Cashin felt Derby County’s attacking intent warranted a result against Swansea City - but a determined fightback wasn’t enough to avoid a 2-1 defeat at Pride Park Stadium in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday.
Derby’s pressure couldn't yield a point after a ripping strike from Žan Vipotnik and a goal from Ronald Pereira Martins in the first half gave the visitors a two-goal lead to hold onto.
The Rams came out the traps strongly in the second half, after ending the first period well, but a Nathaniel Mendez-Laing penalty and late push towards the end couldn't see Paul Warne's side claim anything for their efforts.
Cashin spoke to RamsTV after seeing the side taste a rare home defeat at Pride Park.
On falling to defeat against Swansea…
We are just disappointed. We didn't start well enough. We can't afford to let teams go 2-0 up against us in this league. I thought our reaction was good, but it's alright doing it when you're 2-0 down - we needed to see that earlier. We needed to be a bit braver and be a bit more courageous, both on and off the ball. There are definitely things we can get better at, but I think we probably had enough to get something out of the game.
On improving after a slow start…
I think we just ran a little bit harder, tackled a bit more and had more intensity. It's one of the non-negotiables that Derby County has always been so good at. We didn’t have it in the first 25 minutes and we are really frustrated on that part. You can see when we did get it right and we did put it together, we were so much better. We looked dangerous and we were the only team really that were looking to score.
On coming close to a result with a late fightback…
Swansea made some unbelievable blocks. We've hit the woodwork and we've had plenty of chances. It's probably the most dangerous we've been all season, without getting the goals. It was just one of those matches where when we scored the first, I thought we were going to go on and get another. I could really feel it and I think we just smelt a bit of blood.
I wouldn't say they rode their luck, because they defended so well. That's what you have to do to get a result when you're away from home, so credit to them, but we are disappointed to come away with nothing.