3/1 To Win
Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne admitted his side's 1-0 defeat at Northampton Town made for a 'disappointing day' in Sky Bet League One on Saturday.
A Sam Hoskins strike midway through the first half was enough to secure all three points for the hosts on a day the Rams just couldn't find a breakthrough.
Speaking to RamsTV after the game at Sixfields Stadium, the Head Coach gave his thoughts on the performance, provided an injury update and looked ahead to the visit of Blackpool on Good Friday.
His immediate thoughts on the performance...
I didn't think we were amazing, but still think we created enough chances to win. The goal we conceded was farcical, really. We congratulate Northampton for their win but the chance they took was harder than the chances we missed and, sometimes, games are determined on that. In the end, it just became one of those games. We put enough decent balls in and enough set-pieces, but we just didn't take any. It's a disappointing day because we got an injury to Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Sonny Bradley was been sent off. As bad days go, it's right up there.
On trying to keep the players level headed...
I didn't think we were great today but you have to always respect the opposition and they made it difficult for us. I still thought we had enough chances to win, we just didn't take them. My disappointment is that we didn't show enough character, really. It was a good opportunity to put a good marker down in this match and we haven't taken it. On paper people may have seen this as an easier game, but it doesn't work like that and we've now got back-to-back tough ones against Blackpool and Portsmouth which possibly suits us more.
On Nathaniel Mendez-Laing's injury...
He took a challenge down near us and felt his hamstring. My honest opinion is that he's pulled something because he's been physically resilient for us and played a lot of time. We'll know more early next week.
On those not involved today...
Craig Forsyth injured another part of his calf in training so I don't think we'll see him again this season, unfortunately. Tom Barkhuizen is out for another 2-3 weeks and, similarly, Dwight Gayle is out for that period as well. We'll have to look at the squad on Monday and build up to a big game on Friday.
On Blackpool next Friday at Pride Park...
We've got six games left to pick up the points we need. Maybe it's a wake up call for everyone today that we've not achieved anything yet. I just want the lads to realise if the pressure comes on like that again, and they are chasing a game, they've just got to breathe a little bit more. We'll pick them up on Monday and look forward to the game at Pride Park.
