3/1 To Win
Tom Huddlestone reflected on a disappointing afternoon at Pride Park Stadium as Derby County were beaten 3-0 by Aston Villa - but he is looking forward to ‘writing to wrongs’ over the international break.
After a handful of missed opportunities for Derby in the first-half, Villa capitalised with second-half goals from John McGinn, Tammy Abraham and Conor Hourihane.
Derby's best chances came towards the end of the opening 45 minutes. First Jack Marriott saw his shot saved by Orjan Nyland, before the rebound fell to Harry Wilson who saw James Chester block his goalbound effort - while Nyland denied the Welshman once again seconds later.
Tom Lawrence also went close in the final seconds of the first half as he lifted a left-foot effort narrowly over the bar.
Huddlestone felt that if Derby could have converted one of those chances it could have been a different game, but accepted the Rams were second best as Villa took control after the break.
“It’s very disappointing,” the midfielder said following the game when speaking to RamsTV.
“I think they probably had a bit more composure and movement in possession than we did and that coincided with us turning the ball over cheaper than we have been doing recently.
“They kept the ball quite well, especially in our defensive half, so it was difficult for us to get out. Probably the most joy we had was when we went a little bit longer.
“We had two clear-cut chances in the first-half which I think were both from Scott Carson's long kicks. If we took one of those it would have opened the game a little bit and they have to come looking. It wasn’t to be today.”
The second-half was a different story and for the first time this season, Frank Lampard’s side, in the manager's words, was out-worked by the opposition.
The home side struggled to carve out opportunities while the visitors grasped the game by the scruff of the neck.
“Today the 90 minutes was nowhere near good enough, even the first-half when it was fairly even and I don’t think either team was that great,” Huddlestone continued.
“Then the second-half it was all them. Even though the 3-0 was hard to take it probably wasn’t far off a fair result.”
The defeat ended a six-game unbeaten run for the Rams following what has been an impressive period since the last international break, which has seen Derby break into the division's top six.
Huddlestone, 31, is looking to quickly move forward and get to work on the training pitch as Sky Bet Championship action is put on hold for a fortnight.
“We have got two weeks to iron out the wrongs of today and we will have a good game plan going it to the Sheffield Wednesday game and hopefully a lot better performance than we produced today,” he said.
“Since the last international break it has been a lot better than before the previous international break which is a positive.
"We are a few points off where we would like to be, but we have two weeks without a game and when we get back we need to put that right.”
