3/1 To Win
Head Coach Paul Warne admitted his side were beaten by the more ‘clinical team’ as Derby County fell to a 4-2 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday on New Year’s Day.
The Rams tasted defeat in their first game of 2025, with second half goals from Jerry Yates and Ebou Adams proving to be no more than a consolation after Wednesday’s clinical finishing saw them take all three points at Hillsborough.
Warne spoke to RamsTV following the loss on the road against the Owls.
On a tough defeat on the road…
We are disappointed because I thought we had enough of the game, and we dominated the ball away from home. We had more clear-cut chances than them but we just weren't as clinical. Iit's evident that what we're missing; we're not missing an endeavour, organisation or an energy to our play. In both boxes today it let us down, which is rare because we have defended really well all season.
We probably didn't defend the best either, but I thought we weren't as good as we should be to win away from home in both boxes. There are still positives that I take from it, but it's the scoreline that stings.
On having chances to level the game before half-time…
That is what frustrates the group. Games come down to those moments in the box and we didn't take ours. I don't know how many saves Jacob made today, but it wasn't many. I just felt that it wasn’t dropping for us in the six-yard box. We hit the post, their goalkeeper made saves from close range and we missed some really good opportunities.
We came into this with a bit of illness in the camp and maybe that made us start a bit more sluggish. It didn't feel like we started with a real impetus. Once we got a grip of the midfield, I felt like the first half we were pretty comfortable. I know the opposition are always going to create something, but I felt like we were going to get into it. At half-time, I felt like we could have scored two or three goals and that's how crazy football is.
At the start of the second half, I felt like we were good again. Then they got the wonder strike to go 2-0 up, which is a bitter pill to swallow for us. We could still get ourselves back in it, but with the third goal it was all over. We still had enough chances overall to probably get something.
On differences from recent performances…
We are not normally that open. This isn't said with sour grapes, but it wasn't like Sheffield Wednesday played particularly better football than us or had better tactics than us. They just kept turning us and running in behind. They had pace and we got caught out a couple of times on really close decisions. I didn't think we defended as well as we have done. We weren't as clinical in the final third, which matters, and especially away from home. We still scored two and we're still coming away with nothing. There lies the frustration. I thought we asked a lot of questions of them, but didn't take the moments. The longer the game goes on and you don't take the chances the harder it gets.
There were some really good performances; Kane Wilson was outstanding. He cramped up and we didn't really want to play him today because of the amount of games, I don't want to risk an injury. However, Joe Ward has a sore knee, so we couldn't play him and Ryan Nyambe's not available. The same applies with Callum Elder on the other side. His statistics have been through the roof. He's been the highest performer in the squad.
