3/1 To Win
Gary Rowett praised the ‘quality’ that Man of the Match Andreas Weimann provided in the final third for Derby County in their 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers.
The 26-year-old Austrian international was named in the starting line-up for the first time since September and produced a superb display from the right, providing both assists as the Rams bounced back to winning ways and lifted themselves into the Sky Bet Championship’s play-off positions.
Rowett, the 43-year-old Derby boss, felt that Weimann was at the forefront of most of Derby’s good attacking moves in the second half against Ian Holloway’s men.
“I think the big thing with Andi is that when he’s on the pitch, he needs to have that confidence to go and beat people,” he told RamsTV.
“He works so, so, hard for the team through his work rate, his energy, his desire to run and actually sometimes at home he gives you that little bit of a spark occasionally.
“I was really pleased with him and he added that little bit of extra quality to in the final third. As well as the assist, he also had a couple of chances himself.
“In the end, we had quite a lot of chances and probably should have seen the game off a lot safer than we did.
“Nevertheless, I was really pleased with a lot of things that we did and Andi was at the forefront of a lot of that.”
Rowett also reserved praise for Tom Lawrence after the former Manchester United and Leicester City man bagged his first goal since joining the club on a permanent deal from the Foxes in August.
The 23-year-old struck in the early stages of the second half after top goalscorer Matej Vydra’s ninth goal of the season gave the Derby a one-goal advantage right on the cusp of half time.
In particular, the Rams’ manager was pleased with the mental strength he displayed to keep going in the game – even when things were not going his way
“I’m really pleased for Tom (Lawrence),” Rowett said.
“I think you could see straight away that goal then creates 15 minutes where I thought he looked like he was going to score every time he got the ball.
“We know he has got that quality, and that is why, particularly with a young player, we have to keep supporting them.
“Tom showed a really good mental toughness to stay in the game as did all the team.
“I thought that the goal at the end of the first half really helped us.
“QPR looked to me as though they came here for a draw and they sat right in and it is really hard for us to find space when teams set up like that.
“Maybe we lost our composure a touch, but the goal opened up the game and in the second half I thought that we were terrific.”
