Gary Rowett asked his players to prove that they can be tougher to play against away from home ahead of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Brentford.
They responded to that particular challenge but, ultimately, the concession of a late goal at Griffin Park left a sense of frustration in the Rams’ dressing room.
Derby had led from the 16th minute against the Bees after debutant Joe Ledley headed Derby in front on his debut.
It looked as if the Welshman’s early goal was going to be enough, but Ollie Watkins grabbed an equaliser for the hosts with five minutes remaining.
Any point away from home, particularly in the Sky Bet Championship, is deemed to be a good one – but with all three points within their grasp it was a point the Rams had to reluctantly accept.
Derby had conceded seven goals in their previous two away fixtures in the Championship, losing 3-1 at Sheffield United and 4-1 at Bristol City, so ahead of the trip south Rowett demanded his side were a tighter unit right across the pitch.
The hosts dominated possession on Tuesday, with Rowett admitting that his side gave the ball away far too often by being wasteful, but the Rams kept their shape and proved to be a difficult nut to crack.
Brentford, in fact, had just two shots on target and Scott Carson’s goal was relatively untested on the night – which was a stark contrast to the shot-stopper being overworked in the defeats at Sheffield and Bristol.
So, in that regard, it was a step in the right direction. Clearly though, Rowett wanted more of an attacking threat but it proved to be difficult for the Rams to get high up the pitch given Brentford’s dominance on the ball.
Rowett, who took charge in March, has said on a number of occasions that Derby have been too easy to play against away from home in the last 12 months.
The away form has been a topic of discussion in recent weeks given it is a stark contrast to Derby’s form at Pride Park Stadium – where the side has lost just twice in the league over the course of the last 12 months.
In comparison, during that time, seven wins have been picked up away from home from a possible 23 – and Rowett wants that to change.
The 43-year-old suggested a change of approach was needed on the road and, despite seeing his side being tougher to play against and on the cusp of ‘winning ugly’, he knows there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
He told RamsTV: “To get to that point with such concentration, the way we defended as a team and limited them to very few chances, it was disappointing to concede late on.
“I think they’ve created the most chances in the division, they’ve had the most shots on target, and to get to that point and then throw it away with a poor goal was frustrated.
“If you look at the bigger picture; we started well for the first 15 or 20 minutes and then maybe that lack of energy to maintain it meant that we dropped into shape.
“When you do that the only chance to get out of it is to win the ball back and move up the pitch with possession, but we were very wasteful.
“There are a lot of aspects to our game that we know we can do a lot better but ultimately we were 1-0 up away from home and we looked like we had won ugly.
“It was a step forward in terms of that but when you look as if you’re going to get some sort of reward, we got a deflating goal against us which just added to the disappointment.”
Derby have proved this season that they are capable of keeping the ball better than they did at Brentford.
Rowett felt when the Rams were in possession, particularly when winning the ball, they weren’t able to spring out and impose themselves on the hosts as they would have liked.
They started with a high intensity at Griffin Park but weren’t able to maintain it, particularly after taking the lead through Ledley.
It’s not as if the Rams aren’t able to do it away from home, having deservedly won at Bolton Wanderers last month, after dominating from start to finish.
Now, it’s about finding a level playing field between being resilient away from home as well as retaining possession well and being real an attacking threat.
It’s easier said than done but Rowett knows, with a strong desire and competitive edge, Derby are capable of doing that on a consistent basis.
He said: “Before the game we said that it hasn’t got to look as nice at times, we knew we could put them under pressure and be a bit more aggressive than we have been in previous away games.
“We were more competitive than we have been, there was a lot more desire in terms of out of possession so those things are positives.
“In an ideal world, you want to be able to maintain that intensity for the whole game but ultimately, at times against a good team like Brentford – a possession based team that make it hard for you to get out of those areas – you’re going to get in and be compact.
“When we do win it, we need to spring out and keep the ball better, it’s something we spoke about afterwards and the players recognised it.
“We need to add some of those bits from other games when we have kept the ball well, to add to that defensive resilience and that’s what we’re looking for - a bit of both.
“At the moment, we seem to do one quite well in a game and we don’t seem to be able to piece it together often enough.”
