Goals from Alex Pearce, Matej Vydra and Tom Lawrence consigned Wanderers to defeat at Pride Park in their latest Sky Bet Championship outing on Saturday afternoon.
The Rams scored twice inside the opening 45 minutes to put themselves in control of the clash, and while the Whites made a double attacking substitution at the break in response, Lawrence’s effort shortly after the restart made sure of the result for the home side.
And speaking following the final whistle, manager Phil Parkinson covered these points…
On the game in general…
We weren’t very happy with the start we made. The goals we conceded, the first in particular, were very soft and we gave a team who had a very edgy crowd behind them the last time they played here against Sunderland a huge lift.
It could have been avoided and we have to do better than that – it is as simple as that.
It doesn’t matter what system we play, what personnel we play or what style of football we play, we have to get the fundamentals back in place out there on the football pitch to enable us to win games of football.
I feel in the last few weeks since the Aston Villa game, those fundamentals haven’t been in place as well as they should be and we have been punished for that.
On the blow that came with conceding so early on…
In the build-up to the game, we prepared well for it and made changes, as we have done before and which we will continue to do.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Was it the changes or is it the formation which cost us today? I personally think it was more that the manner of the goals we gave away were cheap.
On the improvement in performance after the break…
The lads kept going in the second half and I have to give them credit for that, but we expect that as I am always saying what a good group of lads they are.
We kept going and hit the post and bar alongside a scramble cleared off the line.
Derby didn’t really threaten in the second period but we have to be honest with ourselves and say that at 3-0, the match was done and dusted from Derby’s point of view meaning that they sat back in and let us have possession of the ball a bit more.
We did keep going though and it was important that we showed a bit of pride in that second half.
On bouncing back from three defeats in a row…
We have just got to get back to the drawing board and find a formula for us to get the wins required.
We have done it before – we have had some tough times during my time at the club so far and some soul searching along the way and this is another one of those nights.
We’re all hurting and while you accept when you come to Derby that it’s going to be difficult, we just made it too easy for them in that first period.
And finally, on the challenge of Millwall on Tuesday…
It goes without saying that we need every single supporter to be right behind the team on Tuesday night.
The true test of players, managers and supporters is when the chips are down and we will need everybody who is coming on Tuesday to get right behind the lads and do their bit.
We know it is tough when your team has been beaten – it is extremely tough for us as it’s our livelihood and it affects us more than anybody – but come Tuesday, we have to be ready to be competitive in every part of the game.