3/1 To Win
Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne described the Rams' late turnaround against Port Vale on Tuesday evening as 'breath-taking.'
It looked as though Derby were heading for their first defeat in 19 outings when trailing 1-0 with just three minutes to go, but goals from David McGoldrick and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing turned the game on its head and capped a memorable night for the Rams in Sky Bet League One action.
Speaking to RamsTV after the match, Warne spoke about the performance as a whole, the team's mentality and looked ahead to next Monday's Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round clash with West Ham United.
On the result...
I thought our overall performance wasn't bad. The pitch was something else which is no excuse but I didn't think we were able to play as well as we possibly wanted.
Port Vale are a really hard team to play against, they took three points off us back in October so we knew it would be a tough game and we knew we'd have to match their effort.
Even if we'd have lost tonight, I wouldn't have had any complaints with the lads as they did everything we asked them to do -we just couldn't get the goal we wanted. The fact we got two goals so quickly at the end where our fans were was something else. It takes everyone. I took some of our superstars off the pitch and put the young ones on and they came good for us. I've said it all the time, if you're going to be successful it's not just the first eleven it's the whole group.
I love them guys and when Nat scored late on down that end; wow. It was breath-taking.
On the mentality of the squad...
We just keep going. We weren't going crazy on the side of the pitch as there wasn't a lot wrong really. The team have got a real belief and a real togetherness which is worth a lot and to get the two goals, I still can't get over it, it was beyond Disney.
I don't think anyone can leave the ground and think we didn't deserve to win, I thought we created enough chances., but we could have conceded another couple ourselves. I'm not saying it was perfect but in terms of entertainment it doesn't get much better.
On individual performances...
I can't have too many complaints if we lose a football game if we give everything as sometimes it just doesn't go your way and tonight it felt like that at times.
There were some unbelievable performances out there and all the substitutes did really well but it would be amiss of me not to mention Knighty. To cover that amount of grass on the heaviest pitch in the world is something else. He was winning the ball late on to take us over the finish line but it was a team effort, a squad effort, and I'm really pleased.
On the connection with the fans...
I appreciate them all that travelled. Luckily I had Curtis Davies out there to do 'the bounce' as that got me right out of it - I'm a bit stiff for that!
To score two goals late on always feels even bigger than a win but the lads can take confidence as they aren't going to have everything their way between now and May. They are going to go behind in games but as long as they know they have the character and keep trying to do the right things then they have a chance.
I said to the lads tonight, if they play at their absolute best then they are a very difficult team to stop.
On West Ham United...
I've give the lads three days off now so they can rest up and have two days preparation for it and enjoy the night for what it is. If we win and we go through, great. If we perform at our best and don't go through then that's just how football is. It's a privilege for the lads to be on the pitch with some of their superstars. There's no massive pressure on us so the lads can enjoy the night for what it is and hopefully go through.
