Martin: “I Thought We Played Extremely Well”

Striker Chris Martin felt Derby County deserved to progress through to the Fourth Round of the Emirates FA Cup following their 1-0 Third Round victory at Premier League side Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The 31-year-old scored the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute as he met a cross from full-back Jayden Bogle and diverted the ball into the goal for his fifth goal of the season.

Palace were reduced to 10-men in the second half as captain Luka Milivojevic saw red for an off-the-ball incident with Tom Huddlestone.

The Rams could, and maybe should, have extended their lead with captain Wayne Rooney testing the palms of Wayne Hennessey and Jayden Bogle heading wide, whilst Martyn Waghorn struck the post in additional time.

However, the Rams held on to record their third consecutive victory in all competitions and Martin was particularly pleased with his goal.

“It was 'right place, right time' for me,” he admitted, speaking to RamsTV following the game. “I have given Jayden Bogle a bit of a ribbing to try and get an assist for me.

“I said to stick one in the box and that’s what he did. He picked the ball up in a good area, it was a very good cross and very difficult for defenders to deal with and I managed to stick my shin on it.

“I saw it trickle into the far corner, which was nice.”

Martin felt the Rams were good value for their win, even though they made it difficult for themselves at times.

“The first 10 minutes was a settling-in period,” he said. “We gave too many balls away in the build up and allowed them to get some pressure. After that, I thought we played extremely well.

“We got on the ball, Wayne Rooney and Tom Huddlestone in midfield played well and we played some really nice stuff. Morgan Whittaker and Louie Sibley did well as well and we perhaps could have been further ahead. We had some opportunities, but it was nice to go in at half-time 1-0 up.

“We started well again in the second half but if there is anything for us to look at and improve on, it’s that we didn’t see it out better with 10 men. We could have kept the ball a little bit better and gone on to score the second.

“In the last calendar year, we didn’t have too many away victories and hopefully this year is totally different.

“I think it showed a little bit of naivety and we weren’t quite clinical to see the game out and we need to improve moving forward – especially in terms of away games because the home team put you under pressure with ten men and we know the quality they had.

“We had more than enough opportunities to score the second and we could have been a little bit more controlled in possession but that is nit-picking.

“I think overall it was a good performance considering the changes we made and some of the young lads coming into the team and that only bodes well moving forward.”

Asked who the striker would like in the next round of the competition, Martin replied: “Anyone. Bring them on.”