3/1 To Win
Head Coach Paul Warne says the Derby County dressing room was left feeling disappointed following the 1-1 draw with Portsmouth at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Striker James Collins looked to have secured all three points for the Rams with a late penalty but Colby Bishop struck in the final minute of stoppage time to ensure the points were shared in Sky Bet League One.
Speaking to RamsTV after the full-time whistle, Warne gave his verdict on the performance.
On the game...
The dressing room is disappointed. I thought Portsmouth showed they were a really good team and we knew that coming into today - hence they've not lost so far this season.
I thought the first half was a bit scrappy from us, we were going for the perfect pass at times.
Tyrese Fornah got a crazy booking so we had to manage that and take him off at half-time. Conor Hourihane felt something he's had before on his hamstring so that was another issue to address.
In the second half, as the game progressed, I thought we got down the sides quite well and we grew into it. Elliot Embleton shouldn't have played that long, Kane Wilson shouldn't have played that long and Louie Sibley and Tom Barkhuizen are coming back from injuries so they are all a little bit rusty but they will be better for it - but we should still be good enough with a few minutes left to see the game out.
We will play significantly better and lose and today would have been one of those days where parts were good, but you take the win and go onto the next game. We defended plenty of free-kicks and long-throws but we got done with a sucker-punch late on which is disappointing.
On taking the next step as a team...
I thought we were a little bit off 'nearly' to be honest. There were moments where we were good and had chances. In fairness, in th first half I thought we created the better chances in the first half.
Birdy is coming back, Sibs is a bit fitter, Tom is a bit fitter and we just need all of our best players. I don't think we had enough of our best players on song today.
We had some good moments we just needed more of it. I don't think we sustained enough ball in their half so that's something we'll show the lads. Nobody means to give the ball away but we need to be a little bit sharper.
The fans stayed with the team but we've got to give them something to really get behind. I thought we had another gear that we possibly didn't use today.
On Conor Hourihane and Tyreece John-Jules' injuries...
Conor has had the problem before with his hamstring tendon. That might be something very little, it may be a few days or a week but he won't be available for Tuesday night.
JJ trained on Monday this week and on Tuesday he felt a little bit tight in
his quad, so with his history we are just trying to protect him and get
him fitter. He will have a scan to see if there's any proper damage.
Apart from that, a lot of the lads got a lot of minutes which is positive and they will be better for it come next week and the games ahead.
On Tuesday night's EFL Trophy game against Lincoln...
We've got to try and balance the squad in terms of minutes but we also want to win a football game. I can use it to play a few players as Sonny Bradley needs to play, Josh Vickers probably needs to play and a few others too. We'll have a look and see how the lads are and pick another team for Tuesday night.
