Gary Rowett was pleased to see Derby County navigate their way through a potentially tricky Carabao Cup First Round tie at Grimsby Town on Tuesday evening with a positive outcome.
Matej Vydra’s second-half penalty handed the Rams a 1-0 win at Blundell Park to set up a trip to fellow Sky Bet Championship side Barnsley in Round Two next month.
Rowett made ten changes to his starting line-up from last weekend’s 2-1 victory at Bolton Wanderers as he sought to give game time to as many members of his first-team squad as possible, including new signing Tom Lawrence, who made his full debut after signing from Leicester City last week.
The 43-year-old felt his side weren’t quite on their game in the first half, but was pleased with a marked improvement in their performance after half-time to avoid a cup upset against Russell Slade’s Sky Bet League 2 outfit.
He told RamsTV: “It is never an easy tie and especially as we came here making ten changes to the side, but we needed to give some players some game time and this was a great opportunity.
“It was a very competitive and strong team but I felt that we made it difficult for ourselves in the first half. We didn’t move the ball quickly enough and I don’t think we were brave enough in terms of trying to play out from the back.
“If you don’t play out against a side like Grimsby then it becomes a game of second balls. I thought that Grimsby were good and I thought that they were really bright in parts.
“In the second half, I just asked the players to show a little bit more ability on the ball. I thought we were brighter and that we got into better areas too, showing a little bit more ingenuity.
“Having said that, we were still a bit wasteful and I have said that on a few occasions this season.
“We got the goal from a good spell and I am pleased with the win and the clean sheet too. We’re into the next round and that’s what we wanted beforehand.”
He added: “I’m pleased with a lot of aspects of the game but I’m sure that we can play a lot better than that.”
Jason Shackell played the full 90 minutes after recovering from a back injury which required surgery towards the end of last season to feature for the first time under Rowett.
The 33-year-old produced a typically solid display alongside skipper for the night Alex Pearce at the heart of the defence.
Rowett also utilised the opportunity to give Academy graduate Kellan Gordon a first-ever appearance off the bench in the second half – as well as introducing his fellow Under-23s team-mate Timi Max Elsnik into the action late on.
He said: “There are some real plus points such as Jason Shackell playing 90 minutes and Kellan Gordon and Timi Max Elsnik coming on, but at the same time there are some things that we need to work on.
“It was a case of seeing how Jason felt over the course of the game and he has come through it fine.
“We knew that he looked fairly comfortable and he defended quite well.
“I wanted to try and get some of the youngsters on as well. I know at 1-0, that could have back-fired on us but we need to see some of those players.
“Kellan Gordon scored a lovely goal against Arsenal for the Under-23s recently and Timi Max Elsnik has been playing very well as well, so they deserved a chance.”
Derby’s Second Round tie at Barnsley will be played on Tuesday 19th September 2017 at Oakwell, with kick-off scheduled for 7:45pm.
