There was an air of jubilance around Pride Park Stadium after Derby County hammered in three goals against Bolton Wanderers to record the first back-to-back win of 2018 and Curtis Davies believes the Whites were let off easy.
It was a stark contrast when Davies spoke to RamsTV after the game than the last home game when they lost to Sunderland.
Since that 4-1 defeat, Derby have gone on to record two wins to build momentum into the business end of the season.
The Rams took a hard-fought 1-0 win against Preston North End at the start of the week and turned that confidence into attacking masterclass against the Whites.
An early goal lifted Gary Rowett’s side’s spirits even further as Bolton withered and fell victim but Davies says the visiting team could have had it even worse.
The defender told RamsTV: “It’s been dogged, but Saturday wasn’t as hard as the Preston game. We got the two goals, we got the third – I think we were a bit cuter, we probably could have put them to the sword to be honest.
“Bolton are good at set pieces but Scotty [Carson] made a couple of good saves and we had to block one on the line. So we had to work hard for that clean sheet in the end when it really was a comfortable win.”
It took Alex Pearce just six minutes to put Derby ahead and his centre back partner, Davies, was delighted to see the Republic of Ireland international on the end of Joe Ledley’s corner.
Rowett has been pushing for his defenders to get up and on the end of set pieces and finally got his wish when Pearce picked up his first goal since December 2016.
With a chuckle Davis added: “We were talking about it and [Mark] Sale said to Pearce on Friday ‘you’ve got to score one, you have to score one!’
“I think that the rumour was if he didn’t score one against Bolton, Sale was off him and somebody else would have to take charge of him. So Saley is quite happy, Pearce is happy, it was a really good header and it got us going because just before that Nuge had the chance and the ‘keeper made a good save. But he really should have scored.”
David Nugent had the chance to really stick the knife in but just fell short on two glaring opportunities. That left his team-mates wondering whose side he was really on.
“With Nuge we were laughing wondering if he was a Bolton fan secretly because he gave them a couple of lifelines,” Davies joked.
“In general, its polar opposite to the 4-1 defeat [against Sunderland], it’s another team that’s down there and fighting but today we had the fight. We got the early lead and we stuck with it.”
The Rams will look to extend their winning streak to three in a row when they head to the Molineux Stadium to face the league leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday. But Davies is under no illusions that they will let up.
“They’re the team that everyone’s been chasing all season. The team that deserves to be there by far, in my opinion,” he added.
“They have been the best team, when they have had a wobble they bounce back with a win. It’s down to us to go there and be solid and make sure we are in the game and hopefully we can take the chances that we get.”
