Head Coach Paul Warne says he is 'really proud' of the Derby County players' performance following the 2-2 draw with Crewe Alexandra in the First Round of the Emirate FA Cup on Sunday.
Despite falling two goals behind, the Rams kept pushing and late strikes from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Conor Hourihane earned a replay back at Pride Park Stadium next week.
Speaking to RamsTV after the game, Warne spoke of his pride that the squad never stopped fighting and ultimately got what they deserved for the amount of chances created over the 90 minutes..
On the game...
I am really proud with how we played and I thought we played really well today.
We dominated, had 30-odd attempts at goal and had 80% possession. We should have asked more questions of the goalkeeper but football is great, it's random, you don't have to be the best team to win and for 70-80 minutes we were 2-0 down from two small margins.
Even if we'd have lost 2-0 today, I'd have come out and said we were excellent. I can't score for the lads. They were trying everything they can and in the end we got two late goals. It doesn't feel like a victory but I don't think there's anyone in this stadium that could say we didn't deserve a draw/
I leave the ground today really proud of my dressing room.
On what he liked about the performance...
I liked our confidence on the ball. It was a really bobbly pitch and we had to be brave and take it in tight areas.
I was really pleased that even though we were losing, we didn't suddenly go back to front and start hoofing it. We kept trying to play, kept asking questions and in fairness to Crewe they answered most of them. Itt took our changes to come on and inject a bit more pace to ask them a bit more.
If you want to achieve something, you just have to find a way to win and even though we didn't win, we found a way not to lose and that is pleasing.
On the character of the squad...
They shouldn't feel under pressure, they should play free. They are going to make mistakes but they have got to react to it and there were times in the first half where we lost the ball and the lads pressed to get it back and everyone went for it.
I'm really pleased of their effort levels when it's easy to just think 'it's not our day,' but they didn't. They just kept going and they have my full respect for that.
On creating plenty of chances...
We're a good team and that's where the frustration is when we don't win because everyone can see what a good team we are.
They are a great group, they are trying to win games and again it was probably a bit of a microcosm of our season. We were really good in parts and let ourselves down in a couple of parts.
We leave here relieved possibly, but mostly with pride. I'm really pleased with the dressing room because lesser people would have dropped.
