Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne admitted his side need to find a clinical edge after they fell to 4-2 defeat against Blackburn Rovers in their 2024/25 Sky Bet Championship opener on Friday night.
After Rovers took the lead in the first period and Derby’s two second half goals from Curtis Nelson and Kane Wilson came from well-worked set-piece routines, Rovers’ substitutes Sammie Szmodics, Andi Weimann and Yuki Ohashi all netted to see the hosts take all three points at Ewood Park.
Warne spoke to RamsTV after the defeat to discuss returning to Championship level, effective substitutions and holding the right mentality.
On seeing positives in the performance…
There are real positives despite the defeat. I wouldn't come out and say it was all amazing and I didn't think we started the game well.
For the first 10 minutes, we couldn't get near them - but then we settled into it. Obviously, any goal you concede isn’t great and they had a chance before the first goal too. After going behind, weirdly, it settled us down. I thought we played really well box-to-box, but we probably didn't have enough of a threat in the final third.
We also made them defend quite a bit. I thought in the second half, we were the better team, although we managed to concede three more goals. That's what's disappointing. I thought at 1-1, we were the team in the ascendancy. Everyone behind the goal was helping the players. My honest appraisal is I just thought we has a bit of fatigue in us, although we were on top.
On showing the right mentality…
They made changes and their changes were outstanding ones. It just felt like the game went away from us for a few minutes. The lads kept going and got a goal back, which I'm proud of, as well as the fact that they didn't give in and there were no body language issues of throwing arms up or anything like that.
That's essential when you've got 46 games. I also appreciate all the fans who stayed behind and clapped. That means a lot to the dressing room, myself included. Everyone could see the effort the lads put in. But, unfortunately, we just didn't have enough killer edge in the final third - and they did. I didn't think there was much between the teams, box-to-box, but the result says different.
On playing back at Championship level…
In fairness to my team tonight, I know they haven't been in the Championship for a couple of years but most of them have played at this level. I don't regard that as an excuse. Sometimes games don't go exactly the way you want them to and sometimes you can be on top and lose.
I don't think it was a rude awakening. Generally, our play was really good, and I was really proud of the players.
