It was a case of so close yet so far for Derby County’s Under-23s on Sunday afternoon.


They came within a whisker of claiming a draw from their Sunday showdown with Premier League 2 Division 1 table-toppers Liverpool, before Ovie Ejaria struck late on to secure the three points at Prenton Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Rams gave everything to the cause and Darren Wassall left pleased with the performance of his squad.

Josh Barnes epitomised that and really caught the eye in goal for Derby as he pulled off numerous stops to keep his side in the game and it was the sort of performance which deserved a clean sheet.

Speaking to dcfc.co.uk, the Rams’ ‘keeper said: “I thought we deserved something out of the game, that's the way football goes sometimes. So, we’ll pick ourselves up and go again next Sunday against Manchester United”

“We can build on this result, there are always things we can work on, but there was a lot of positives to take away from this.”

Barnes was certainly very busy in between the sticks facing multiple efforts on goal and dealing with them but was very disappointed not to keep a clean sheet despite a good personal performance.

The young ‘keeper explained that he sees the effort of the players every training and that the whole is squad putting in the maximum effort to try and get results week in week out.

“The lads are at it all the time, to come away to Liverpool, top of the league and flying and to only lose 1-0 when we deserved a draw is pretty good”

Written by Danny Masood