John Eustace has praised his Derby County side’s ‘amazing performance and effort’ as they secured their first win under the tutelage of the Head Coach in the Sky Bet Championship.
An explosive start from Derby saw them two goals to the good inside six minutes against Blackburn Rovers at Pride Park Stadium as Craig Forsyth and Ebou Adams both found themselves on point to score from close range.
A goal from Makhtar Gueye later in the first half saw Derby forced to dig deep in the second period to hold on for maximum points in a 2-1 victory.
Eustace spoke to RamsTV after his first victory at the helm.
On the 2-1 win against Blackburn…
I thought the lads were amazing today and the effort of the whole group - and the fans - was unbelievable. We played with that 12th man today and I'm very proud of the football club. We were on fire at the start of the game. We wanted to set the tone and make sure we were on the front foot. This week in training, there was a really good feeling throughout the week.
Although we've had three or four big injuries, the atmosphere in the training ground has still been very good. In all the meetings, it's been electric. I knew we'd start quickly today. I'm delighted with the effort of the whole group; the staff, the players. It's the start now and we've got to crack on again.
On Craig Forsyth getting the opening goal and Harrison Armstrong’s performance…
Fozzy is an amazing athlete and a top pro at 36 years of age. He was top draw today. He read the game very, very well. Since I've come to the football club, he's really helped me as well with some of the players. He's an excellent servant to the football club and the goal he scored today was a typical Fozzy goal.
Harrison was outstanding for his second start in the Championship at age 18. I thought it was a real mature performance against two very good midfielders against him in there and a good number 10. I was very proud of his effort. We spoke in the week on a few things that we need to improve on with him. He's certainly taken that on board and we're very fortunate we have him here.
On the importance of the support at Pride Park…
I know how important this football club means to the fans and how important the fans are to this football club. If we're going to try and stay in the league, which we all desperately want to, the fans have got to play such a huge part in that. You can see the effort of the group was there, but that 12th man got us through there. I think they were breathing the ball in the net for the first two goals, but then also keeping the ball out of the net at the end. It was a group effort to that.
On needing to carry on the momentum…
We need to just take each game as it comes. We can't be sure that it's the start of anything. We have to, first and foremost, see what players we have to pick from going into Tuesday. You can see we've lost another few to injuries today. What I will say is that win, lose or draw, this group of players will give 100% and I think that's all we can ask for.
