Martyn Waghorn was delighted to fire Derby County to the Fifth Round of the Emirates FA Cup and praised the team’s character to overcome a 'difficult' tie at Accrington Stanley.
The forward fired home the winning goal at the Wham Stadium with just over ten minutes to go in a tough match against the League 1 side as Derby ran out 1-0 winners.
Both sides were reduced to ten men in the second half with Dan Barlaser receiving a second yellow for the hosts, before Jayden Bogle was shown a straight red in the closing minutes for hauling down Paul Smyth.
Waghorn said it was credit to the players’ mentality and desire to keep fighting for the win despite the difficult conditions.
He told RamsTV: “It was a difficult game today and I’m glad we managed to pick up the win and get our name in the hat for the next round.
“It was always going to be difficult coming to a place like this with difficult conditions, stadium and the pitch was tough.
“They have got a style of play which made it difficult for us, but it shows the character of the dressing room that we have shown many times with this team. We never gave in, we have got a great mix of lads and we want to win as many games as we can.
“That’s the beauty of the FA Cup, you have to fight the adverse conditions and thankfully we got the goal to give a bit of a cushion.”
Following on from his first goal in a Rams shirt against Reading last week, Duane Holmes put in a solid shift in the cup clash.
He was the provider for Waghorn as he shrugged off his marker to poke the ball towatds the 29-year-old, who got ahead of the defenders to fire in.
Waghorn praised Holmes recent form and said he is the epitome of what Frank Lampard expects from his players.
“Duane Holmes has done brilliantly the last weeks, he has come in with a real hunger and drive,” Waghorn said.
“That’s what the gaffer wants, a bit of energy and real work-rate for the team. The last few weeks we’ve got a little formation, little set up going and hopefully we can keep going on that.
"His little trickery goal for the goal fell nicely for me.
“I just thought ‘get it out from my feet and get a shot away and on target’. Thankfully it managed to nestle into the net.”
The Rams will have to wait until Monday night to find out their opponents for the next round, but Waghorn said the team is ready and willing to take on anyone.
He said: “We will take anyone - a Premier League team at home would be nice.
“We want to go as far as we can. We have shown in previous rounds that we can take the game to anyone so whoever it will be we will just enjoy it and try and get the win.”
First, however, the Rams will return to Sky Bet Championship action for another trip to Lancashire next Friday night to face Preston North End.
Waghorn emphasised the importance of building on their back-to-back victories over a crucial few weeks for both the league and cup competitions.
He explained: “We are back to the league for a while now and we need to build on this. We have got a good few weeks ahead of us and we need to build on the positive results.
“It is important to go there with our minds on the job and have a good game Friday night.”
