Rowett Rues Key Moments

Gary Rowett felt that the crucial moments didn’t go Derby County’s way during their 2-0 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Tuesday night.

Lucas Joao struck in each half to condemn the Rams to their first defeat in the Sky Bet Championship since the end of November.

It also ended an unbeaten away run that went back to September, and Rowett was disappointed with the goals that his side conceded, especially since they spent large portions of the game in control.

He told RamsTV: “I thought we actually moved the ball really well and got into some very good positions but just couldn’t take our chances or find that little bit of quality in the final third with the last pass or the last cross into the box.

“If you look at the manner of the goals today, the first one is a ball between Fozzy and Johnno and they both know that they shouldn’t allow Hunt to get into that position.

“Again, to concede so early in the second half really knocks the stuffing out of us and once again it was a great finish for them but it’s a poor goal for us to concede.

“Other than that, there was parts of our performance that were better than they have been in previous games today.”

Andreas Weimann and Matej Vydra had good chances to get Derby back into the game in the second half, but the Rams just couldn’t find the finishing touch.

Rowett didn’t criticise the overall performance as he believes that the display was another example of the consistency that his side have shown so far this season, but he does think that Derby were missing a little bit of magic.

He said: “I don’t think we played badly, we’ve shown great levels of consistency but we just haven’t quite shown that little bit of extra brilliance that we’ve done in recent weeks.

“I am disappointed with the manner of the goals but I’m not too disappointed with the performance.

“I don’t think they troubled Scott Carson at all, he hasn’t had to make a save and sometimes those games go like that.”

The Rams are back in action against Leeds United next Wednesday, and Rowett believes that it is time for his team to respond positively after their long sequence without a defeat came to an end.

He added: “I think it’s how you react to that defeat and we’ve said that all along.

“This division is about reacting to defeats and coming back, we’ve seen Wolves do that, we’ve seen Villa do that and go onto an excellent run, we’ve seen the likes of Fulham do that so now it’s our turn and we have got to show what we are made of.”