3/1 To Win
Gary Rowett admitted his frustration at Derby County being forced to settle for a point in their 1-1 draw at Brentford.
Derby took the lead early on through debutant Joe Ledley and looked on course to claim all three points at Griffin Park.
However, Ollie Watkins grabbed a late equaliser for the hosts after the Rams had soaked up long spells of pressure from Dean Smith’s side.
For all the Bees’ possession, Derby defended well as a team and restricted the home side to limited opportunities on goal with a solid away performance.
They were, as it turned out, unable to keep their first clean sheet of the season on their travels in the Sky Bet Championship – and Rowett was clearly disappointed his side were unable to hang on.
He told RamsTV: “To get to 85 minutes, regardless of what happened in the meantime, we are disappointed not to get the win.
“They had two shots on target. They had a lot of the ball and made a lot of passes but it was mainly in front of our defence.
“We were disappointed with how we used the ball and how we were pinned in for long periods but to get to that point, we have to see it out and win the game scruffily or in an ugly manner.
“I thought at times tonight, we had chances to play and we had chances to pass the ball but we seemed to be in the mindset of lets just clear it rather than showing some composure.
“We had two opportunities to clear the ball and so that was disappointing that we ended up conceding such a poor goal.
“We had dealt with situations like that all night and so we should have dealt with it again. Sometimes you are going to be disappointed and this is one of them.”
Rowett spoke pre-game about Derby needing to be tougher to play against away from home.
After going down 3-1 and 4-1 at Sheffield United and Bristol City respectively in their previous games on the road, he wanted the Rams to be much more solid as a side.
He felt there were elements that he wanted on their travels on display – but conceding late on proved to be a bitter pill to swallow after being ahead for so long.
“I certainly think we’ve been too nice away from home,” he said.
“I know you want all the elements of the game, of course you do, but we’ve been too nice.
“We rolled over a little bit at Sheffield United, we rolled over a little bit at Bristol City.
“We showed really good diligence out of possession and that part I was really pleased with – but we are disappointed that we switched off at the end.”
Rowett also admitted Derby should have been better in possession in West London.
He as a result of conceding possession cheaply, he felt Derby denied themselves the opportunity to put on and put the game to bed.
He said: “The big disappointment for me was just the way that we used the ball.
“We had lots of opportunities to win the game. We didn’t retain the ball enough times to move up the pitch and have more of the possession. And because we kept giving the ball away, we kept having to defend of course.”
He added: “Regardless of how it comes around, an away point is never a bad thing. Of course, we want to be better, but in terms of our resilience and effort, I thought we did well.
“We know, though, that if we want to get to where we want to be – we’ve got to be better.”
Next up for Derby is a trip to Championship leaders Cardiff City on Saturday ahead of the October international break.
