Nathaniel Mendez-Laing admitted Derby County's players were delighted to put in a performance with the ‘finishing touch’ as the ran out 4-0 winners against Portsmouth on Friday night.
The Rams took the lead through Kane Wilson in the eighth minute and went into half-time with a three-goal advantage through Eiran Cashin and Ebou Adams’ goals.
The victory was cemented in the 65th minute when Marlon Pack steered the ball into his own net to finish off Marcus Harness’ cross.
Mendez-Laing was the creator of Derby’s first goal, as well as being involved in the third, and spoke to RamsTVafter the win against Pompey.
On a perfect evening at Pride Park…
The lads are all buzzing. I think it's been a long time coming. It felt like free-flowing football, but we were ruthless in the final third tonight, which is what we've needed over the past few weeks. We have been playing some good stuff, but we just haven't had the finishing touch at the vital moment, whereas tonight I feel we really showed that.
On the plan coming into the game…
We didn't build it up to be such a big match for us, even though we knew it was important. Every game, we want to win. It was just more a case of going out there and playing with confidence. There's nothing to fear and we wanted to show everyone what we can do. There's nothing better than Pride Park and on a Friday night under the lights, so I'm really proud of all the boys tonight.
On the opening goal and a fast start…
That's what was said in the dressing room: get out there, get after them straight away and be on the front foot. Thankfully Kane put that one away - I'm buzzing for him to get a goal. He played excellently tonight as well. He was up and down the wing, like the Buffalo that he is. Everyone was outstanding, all the way through the team.
