Head Coach Paul Warne gave an honest assessment as Derby County bowed out of the Emirates FA Cup at the Third Round stage on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time against Leyton Orient on Tuesday night.
Derby went behind in the 20th minute but responded immediately as striker Dajaune Brown netted the equaliser for his second goal of the season.
The game headed into extra time and had to be decided from the spot, with Orient coming out on top 6-5 after sudden death to set up a home time with Manchester City in the Fourth Round.
Warne spoke with RamsTV following his side’s FA Cup exit.
On exiting the cup on penalties against Leyton Orient…
It's exactly what we didn't want, going to extra time. We were forced into a change at half-time with Nat Phillips' calf being tight. We thought we needed to win more second balls in the middle of the park, so we brought Ebou on. Then with about half an hour to go, I thought we needed to inject a bit of energy into the side because Corey Blackett-Taylor and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing were tightening up, so we changed the front three. I thought that would have been enough to win a football game.
We didn't really create a lot more after that, truth be told. Dajaune Brown took his goal really well, and I’m pleased for Daj. Corey and Nat were dangerous at times, Kenzo Goudmijn was our outstanding player, but in a game with very few chances, we probably didn't do enough to win and nor did the opposition. It's disappointing to go out in the FA Cup, and to go out on penalties as a lottery, but we should have had enough before that to get us through.
On Dajaune Brown’s performance…
I thought he was good at holding the ball up, and it's good he got the goal, because a lot of the stuff he does is the uglier stuff. He holds it up and takes a lot for the team, so I thought he'd done really well.
There were some positives from tonight's performance, but it's a cup game and you want to go through. Many teams lose to lower league opponents, but I thought with the team we selected tonight, we would have had enough to have a bit more control than we did. It just felt like when there was a bouncing ball, we got nudged out of the way of it, which I wouldn't normally say about my team. I just didn't think we were as aggressive as we needed to be to win.
On picking themselves back up ahead of Watford…
I don't want the lads to feel sorry about themselves, we've lost but we've got to move on very quickly, psychologically and physically. You've just got to get yourself back on the horse and get a little bit neater on stuff.
Jerry Yates is fine. He played with a groin injury against Bristol City, but it shouldn't affect him too badly. The medical team decided to rest him for a couple of weeks, so he'll be fine for the weekend, as will Eiran Cashin and Ben Osborn. We'll have some fresh legs to pick from and we're going to need them, because obviously going in with extra time tonight is something we didn't want.
On preparing for Watford at Pride Park…
The lads have been excellent at home this year, so Watford will be a tough game. I know Watford played tonight as well against Cardiff, so we'll be watching that on the way home, and we'll be preparing the team again for Saturday. We need to turn performances into wins, we drew tonight obviously, but lost on penalties so it’s disappointing. For everyone who travelled, I appreciate you staying with the team and clapping them off, especially if you came down on Saturday as well. We just didn't do enough to win, and that's my honest assessment.