Bryson: "We Didn't Deal With The Early Setbacks"

Craig Bryson admitted that Derby County never bounced back from their early setbacks as they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Barnsley.

A hugely unlucky Scott Carson own goal gave the Tykes an early lead, before Alfie Mawson, the defender, doubled the advantage three minutes after the half time interval with the header as Nigel Pearson’s side fell to their first defeat of the 2016/17 season.

The Rams lost Jeff Hendrick early on to a suspected hamstring injury too, but Bryson says Derby can have no excuses on the outcome at Oakwell.

Frank and honest as always, the Scotland international admitted the Barnsley deserved their victory.

He told Rams Player HD: “It wasn’t the result or the performance that we wanted.

“We didn’t start the game very well, but towards the end of the first half we got back into the game. We created a couple of half chances, but we didn’t take them.

“We conceded a sloppy goal at the start of the second half and we never really got to terms with that. Barnsley played a lot better than us overall and they deserved their win.

“It’s never great when players start the game and have to go off injured early on, especially when that’s what we had been working on.

“We have got a big squad here at Derby, we have got good players and we saw that with Will (Hughes) coming on.

“We can’t make excuses for that. They had a bit of fortune for the first goal after the ball hit the post and then hit the post.

“It’s about how you bounce back from those setbacks and today, we never really did that.”

Quick to look ahead, Bryson insists that Derby cannot dwell on the performance or the result.

Pearson’s side quickly return to action on Tuesday evening with an away trip to Preston North End looming, kick-off: 7:45pm.

With an early opportunity to get back on track, Bryson, 29, says it is important that he and the side set the record straight at Deepdale.

He added: “We can’t dwell on this performance and result. In the Championship the games come around so quickly that you have to get over the disappointment and be ready for Tuesday. We will be ready for that.

“The fans always turn out in great numbers and spend their hard earned money to come and watch us.

“The performance we put on wasn’t the best and was not befitting of Derby County. 

“We wanted to out on a good performance for them after filling that whole stand again behind the goal, but we will look to put that right on Tuesday.”