3/1 To Win
Chris Baird admitted that Derby County never got going after their Capital One Cup campaign was ended at the first hurdle by Portsmouth.
Chris Baird admitted that Derby County never got going after their Capital One Cup campaign was ended at the first hurdle by Portsmouth.
The Rams fell to a 2-1 defeat on the South Coast after Conor Chaplin scored within minutes of Jason Shackell’s equaliser to stun Paul Clement’s side.
Derby’s Head Coach said after the game that his side did not deserve to go through at Fratton Park.
It was a feeling that Baird, Derby’s Captain, also agreed with – citing that the side did not concentrate after they had got back on level terms.
He told Rams Player HD: “We agree with the boss, we weren’t good enough from start to finish.
“Credit to Portsmouth, they deserved the win to get into the next round.
“We knew what to expect from them, we had a few meetings beforehand, but we didn’t deal with it and couldn’t get going.
“I don’t know the reason why, but we didn’t deserve to go through.
“We could have had a penalty late on, but that’s not the reason we lost and we’re offering no excuses.
“It was poor from us to concede so soon after equalising, we didn’t concentrate and it summed us up really."
Derby will quickly return to Sky Bet Championship action now as competitive football returns to the iPro Stadium with the visit of Charlton Athletic.
The Rams also face last season’s play-off finalists Middlesbrough in their first run of back-to-back home games of the 2015/16 campaign.
Baird says the next few days are going to be vital for the side as they look to record their first win of the new season on Saturday.
He added: “We know we can play a lot, lot better than that but there’s nothing we can do about it now, we’re out of the cup.
“We have a home game on Saturday which we have to look forward to now, where hopefully we can some points on the board in front of our own fans.
“We’ve got back-to-back home games – against Charlton on Saturday and Middlesbrough on Tuesday - which is important.
“The next few days are going to be really vital for us, to recover properly and get ready for a big game at the iPro Stadium.
“We’ve had a draw at Bolton, which was a good point and a clean sheet, so we have to look ahead now and get our season up and running with a win on Saturday."
