Rowett: Poor Goals Made The Difference

Gary Rowett was left feeling familiar frustrations after Derby County’s 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough, but he did see positives in the performance.

Goals from Muhamed Besic and Britt Assombalonga put the visitors in a commanding position, before David Nugent pulled a goal back from the spot late on.

On a number of occasions this season, Rowett has been disappointed the nature of the goals that his side have conceded whilst performing well on the whole, and it was the same story here.

He told RamsTV: “Unfortunately, it was a better performance, we were more flexible and we passed the ball better, but it was the same outcome in terms of the two poor goals.

“If you don’t get out to the ball quickly enough, then you will concede and if you leave a player like [Britt] Assombalonga alone in the area, then you will concede.

“We had more of the ball and we got into better positions, but they defended with more aggression and that’s what Tony Pulis teams do when they get ahead.

“They scored against the run of play and it gave them something to defend, and they’re very good at that.

“The second goal was poor from our point of view and that takes the game away from us.

“It’s disappointing, but there were more positives today than there have been in recent performances.”

There is little time for the Rams to reflect on a disappointing afternoon at Pride Park Stadium, as they are straight back in action in front of their own fans on Tuesday against Cardiff City.

Derby still hold a game in hand on the teams above them and if they avoid defeat against Neil Warnock’s side, they will move back into the top-six.

Rowett says that his team will have to take responsibility if they don’t make the most of their opportunity.

He said: “If we don’t start winning games then we will have nobody to blame but ourselves.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, the crowd got behind the team really well today and I think that the team showed the effort that we are looking for.

“We worked incredibly hard to make things happen, but we just needed a bit of composure at the end.

“In some ways, there were positives and we have to take them into Tuesday.”