“It’s been a long time coming” were the words of striker Martyn Waghorn as Derby County recorded their first three points away from Pride Park Stadium for the first time since August as they beat Swansea City 3-2 at the Liberty Stadium.
The striker put the Rams ahead on eight minutes as he followed up a strong Tom Lawrence effort which rebounded off the post to put Derby ahead.
Whilst the Rams fell behind following two quick goals in the second half, they showed a great reaction as goals from Duane Holmes and Lawrence secured Derby a valuable three points.
It’s the first victory on the road in the league since the opening weekend of the season in the 2-1 victory against Huddersfield Town and Waghorn was delighted to help the Rams earn the three points in South Wales.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he told RamsTV. “We have come close in the past and have been near at times but we’ve not been good enough away from home this season.
“Today, to get the result, we made it hard for ourselves. It was there for us to get a comfortable victory but two sloppy goals in the second half was disappointing.
“It was frustrating that we let them back in the game but it showed the character that we have in the team lately where we are playing good stuff of late and to get back in it, I always felt we were going to get opportunities.
“We had to be patient and wait for that opportunity. We get ourselves in areas to play good stuff and we conceded two sloppy goals which was unnecessary.
“Whether it be a little mistake, it is our fault. We don’t get cut open too many times for teams to score, it is just a bit of sloppiness from our part.
“To get over that today, it gives us great confidence going into the end of the season because you know when you get two, three, four wins on the bounce, you can get yourselves up the league and into a good position.”
It was roles reversed for the Rams’ winning goal on 80 minutes as Waghorn slipped the ball to Lawrence in space 20 yards from goal, and he unleashed an unstoppable effort to secure all three points.
“You see what Tom does day in, day out in training and he has that technique,” he said. “He hits the ball so well and it causes people problems. As a striker, you always get told to follow in the rebounds and thankfully today it was a nice little present to get a tap in away from home.
“That’s what we are capable of. We haven’t shown it throughout the course of the season but it’s been our own fault. I’m the first one to hold our hands up when we haven’t been good enough but today I thought we were better.
“We had the courage to play out, Graeme Shinnie came on and got a hold of it. It steadied the ship in the middle of the park and allowed us to get a foothold in the game. It is a great day because we have that burden off our back but we need to build on it going into Wednesday when we head to Bristol City in our next game.”
