3/1 To Win
Head Coach Paul Warne conceded that the 1-0 defeat to Bristol City was ‘a game too far’ for his Derby County side after a busy spell of fixtures over the Christmas and New Year period.
The Rams came second best in a close contest at Ashton Gate, with a set-piece goal from Luke McNally seeing the hosts go in front in the 20th minute - a lead they refused to yield in the second half.
Bristol City proved a tough test as they continued their positive form, the Robins have secured ten points from four games over the festive period, despite the Rams pushing to get back level.
Warne spoke to RamsTV after the Championship clash at Ashton Gate.
On the defeat at Ashton Gate…
We’re pretty disappointed. It felt like a game too much for us with these four fixtures in quick succession. We just looked off it today. I didn't think we won many challenges, and we didn't play forward enough. I just didn't feel that it was representative of us.
We've got some illness in the camp and injuries too. I know every club has those sorts of things, but it does feel like it's hard and it has drained a lot out of the lads. I believe it was evident in the performance. We tried to make as many changes as we could, and we tried to get more energy into the team. The more we tried, we seemed to have less effect. There were some very tired bodies out there for both sets of players. We just didn't do enough to really put a glove on them to come away with three points.
On the frustration to concede after a bright start…
I thought we started really well, especially after we didn't start well at Sheffield Wednesday last time out. We'd been discussing that, and we sorted it out, but missed on other aspects. I thought the game was quite close overall. They scored from a set piece and that gave them a bit of confidence.
We did have a few good chances, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing connected really well with his chance, but the goalkeeper made the save and he did for another one we had afterwards. I always thought we were going to get back into it. As the half went on in the second period, we looked a bit jaded. Some of the players looked tired, and I understand why. You try and put fresh legs on, hoping it's going to have a successful outcome. However, we didn't get any better. That's probably the nicest way to put it. We didn't create any more real-cut chances apart from a couple of set pieces. We didn't do enough, that is my honest opinion.
On the toll of a busy fixture period seeing players sidelined with injuries…
It feels raw after a defeat. All the people who kindly came to support the team today, I thank them. I don't think we were representative of our club today. As in that's not how we want to be remembered. It’s the end of the fourth game in a busy spell and the lads had nothing more to give. We are missing key players, which is disappointing.
I'm looking forward to welcoming them back soon and seeing our team perform at a better level to give ourselves a chance. It's disappointing to concede off a set-piece and it's just disappointing. I just didn't think we did ourselves any justice today.
On needing to see more in attack…
We started with a back four and switched to a back three, two systems we are familiar with. However we were set up, we just didn't have enough control in the play and I didn't feel like we took enough risks on the ball. We played a lot in our own half, a lot along the back line and they came after us and we didn’t play beyond their press enough or get up the pitch enough.
On lining up for FA Cup action against Leyton Orient and having a week between fixtures to reset…
I love an FA Cup game. To not have a league game for a couple of weeks, not to look at everyone else's results and doing all that, is quite nice. The group are just exhausted, and it will be nice to have time to refresh and then play an FA Cup tie and enjoy that.
