'We Caused Mayhem In The First Half, But We Could Have Made Life Easier'

David Nugent felt Derby County’s attacking qualities caused ‘mayhem’ for Bolton Wanderers in a dominant first half showing, but conceded they could have made life easier for themselves.

The 32-year-old forward scored a brace as the Rams claimed a 2-1 win at the Macron Stadium and made it back-to-back Sky Bet Championship victories, following their midweek 1-0 success over Preston North End.

The damage was done over the first 45 minutes in which Nugent admits Derby should have killed Bolton off.

As well as the forward’s goals, Matej Vydra had two further sightings, whilst Andre Wisdom also had a golden chance to score following a surging run towards the end of the half.

Failure to take those chances left the door ajar for Bolton, who improved in the second half and halved the deficit deep into added time through Gary Madine and Gary Rowett, the Derby manager, admitted he was thankful that the goal didn’t come earlier.

Nugent backed that up and acknowledged that the Rams should have been out of sight by that point.

He told RamsTV: “The first half was good to play in. We could have been 4-0 up at half-time and we could have killed the game off.

“Vyds (Matej Vydra) had a great chance and Wisso (Andre Wisdom) had a great chance too, but we didn’t take them and that puts pressure on us to try and see the game out.

“When you’re leading a side 2-0 in the second-half, the team does tend to drop 10-yards and they try and hit you on the counter attack.

“I thought we could have managed the second half a little bit better. Having said that, we got the three points away from home and that’s vital in this league.

“In the end, we’ve won the game and that’s the main thing, but it could have been a lot easier.”

Nugent reserved a word for his attacking team mates after the win at the Macron Stadium.

Deployed in a 4-2-3-1 formation for the second successive game, Johnny Russell, Matej Vydra, Andreas Weimann and Nugent all stood out once again.

Following their latest win, he is hoping they can continue to deliver.

“Vyds is as sharp as any of us and that all helps the work rate up top and it gives the team energy,” the forward said.

“Having said that, there are always other options in the team and if he wants to change it, he’s got the players to do so.

“I think the forward line have been really good. Johnny (Russell), Vyds and (Andreas) Weimann all got in between the lines and created mayhem for their defence.

“With Vyds, he’s got the high work rate as well, he’s sharp, he’s got blistering pace and he always causes defenders problems.

“It all seems to be working at the moment and hopefully over the course of the next couple of games we can keep scoring goals and keep getting the three points.”