Morris: “There Is Still A Lot To Work On”

Jody Morris believes that Derby County can learn quickly from their performance after falling to a 3-1 defeat at Mansfield Town on Wednesday night.

The Rams fought back from a goal down after falling behind just after the hour-mark with Mason Bennett on the scoresheet for the second successive game, but two late strikes earned victory for the hosts.

Morris admitted that improvement was needed, but he explained how it is a process that can be sped up by a disappointing result.

He told RamsTV: “There is a lot to look at from tonight’s game, sometimes when you lose, you get an opportunity to address a few things, quicker than you do if you’re winning.

“We have been better in training, we looked a little bit flat, but it’s one of those where we’re certainly not happy, but it is early days.

“We are changing a few things here, and it isn’t going to happen overnight.”

Individual errors contributed to Mansfield’s first two goals on the night, but that is not something that Morris is particularly worried about.

He said: “There is still a lot to work on. Obviously, there is certainly things that we could have done better regarding the goals, but there was plenty that we need to improve.

“It’s only the second game and you don’t mind mistakes for goals in pre-season.

“The first thing that the manager said to Kelle [Roos] was not to worry because want to try and play the right way.”

Derby welcome Premier League side Southampton to Pride Park Stadium on Saturday for the third game of pre-season.

Morris believes that is a great opportunity for the team, and he expects Mason Mount and Harry Wilson to appear in a Derby shirt for the first time.

He said: “They [Southampton] will punish you if you’re not concentrating and trying to do the right things.

“It’s an opportunity to come up against some opposition that we all want to be playing against, so when you get the opportunity, you want to try and do the right things.”

On Mount and Wilson, Morris added: “They are doing well in terms of fitness because they have already had a good couple of weeks with their respective clubs.

“Tonight was a little bit early, but I’m sure we will see them both on Saturday.”