‘Take The Point And Build On It’

Gary Rowett felt Derby County gave themselves a platform to build on after claiming a 1-1 draw at Sunderland in their opening fixture of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season.

The Rams took the lead early on at the Stadium of Light through Bradley Johnson but, ultimately, were forced to settle for a point after Lewis Grabban equalised for the hosts just before half-time from the penalty spot.

Rowett described himself as ‘not overly displeased’ to return home with a point from a side that was competing in the Premier League last season.

He accepts there’s still plenty to work on with his side, but felt there was also a number of positives aspects to come out of the game.

He told RamsTV: “Overall I’m not overly displeased.

“I think we can do a lot better and we can always improve our performance, which you expect to say in some ways after the first game.

“That’s what it is about, it’s about assessing exactly what you think your team is doing well and maybe what we need to improve on.

“You always want to come away with at least a point away from home.

“It’s a bit of a cliché, but you come to a place like this and if you can’t get the win, then you get a resilient draw.

“We’ve only conceded the one goal from a dubious penalty so, again, we’re not overly disappointed with that.

“We know we can do more and we know that we can pass the ball with more confidence.

“We take the point, we go back home and we build on it in time for Grimsby on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup.”

Rowett felt his side didn’t show enough composure on the ball in the opening 45 minutes.

He felt Johnson’s opener, following a good team move, was an example of what his side is capable of.

The Derby boss was much happier with the way his side performed in possession in the second half, but admitted his side need to be more ruthless when chances fall their way in the final third.

“I thought in the first half we didn’t show enough composure but it was difficult because of things such as the pitch,” he said.

“They have made the pitch here about five yards narrower and about five yards shorter to make it a very direct game and a game of second balls. We didn’t read those second balls and deal with them well enough.

“When we did pass it, we got in some reasonable positions. I think you saw that with the goal, we got the ball from Tom Huddlestone, Johnny Russell did really well, Chris Martin made a run to take the defenders away and Bradley Johnson ended up finishing it.

“Whilst we probably didn’t deserve to be 1-0 up, we were pretty happy that we were.

“After that, it was difficult to stop Sunderland having those little moments where they got corners, put balls in our box. We need to be better at stopping crosses and getting out as a team.”

He added: “In the second half, I just wanted the players to be braver. I would rather lose the game trying to be brave and pass it. I thought we actually started to show a bit more composure and got into some decent positions.

“We were just lacking that little bit in the final third. I think fitness wise, we looked fitter than Sunderland as the game went on.”