Rosenior: “We Were Magnificent In Our Bravery To Play”

Liam Rosenior admitted he was ‘delighted for all the players’ after Derby County recorded their first win of the 2021/22 Sky Bet Championship season in a 1-0 success at Hull City on Wednesday evening.

Derby had the best chances of a goalless first half at the MKM Stadium with Kamil Jozwiak striking the post and Sam Baldock, on his Rams bow, and Ravel Morrison forcing saves from Matt Ingram in the Hull goal.

Wayne Rooney’s side, however, made the breakthrough before the hour mark as Baldock reacted quickest to net from close range after Ingram had failed to gather Lee Buchanan’s powerful low drive.

Derby saw the game out well and in a controlled manner, with fellow new signing Phil Jagielka a rock at the heart of the backline, against last season’s League One champions to register their first win, and clean sheet, of the league campaign.

Rosenior, the Rams’ assistant manager, felt there were several positives to take from the performance as the side took their points return from the opening three league games of the season to four.

Speaking to RamsTV after the final whistle, Rosenior said: “It was a really good night and I’m delighted for all the players.

“From the moment we started in pre-season up until this moment, they have been nothing short of outstanding in the way that they have worked with their attitude, their desire and we felt on Saturday at Peterborough, when we lost 2-1 late on, we didn’t get our just rewards.

“A couple of mistakes cost us but the overall performance was really good and we felt we could build on that. We concentrated on that over the last few days and I’m delighted for Sam Baldock because he’s a very unselfish player.

“I was fortunate to play with him in my time at Brighton and we got promoted together so I’m delighted we were able to bring him in and I knew Sam would bring us energy.

“The great thing about having Sam and Phil Jagielka with us is that they have been with us now from the start of pre-season. They know how we work, they know about our values and the culture we are trying to bring to the club and they fit right in so it was a good night for everyone involved with the football club.”

Rosenior added: “I hope that people can start to see what we are trying to build. We are trying to build a team that plays football in a certain way, that dominates possession and attacks good areas and plays exciting football.

“I thought for large periods of the game tonight we were magnificent in our bravery to play out from the back and take the ball and that gave us a good platform to build on and win the game.”

While Baldock will rightly get the plaudits for his debut strike, Rosenior felt it was important to pay tribute to the entire squad.

“I’ve seen Sam do what he did tonight many times,” he said. “He has a knack of standing in the right place and you can’t coach it.

“It’s something that is natural for strikers and I’m delighted for him to get off the mark.

“It’s not just him, though. People like Richard Stearman are important. He was left out tonight, he played really well on Saturday so he was unfortunate to be left out, but when you need a centre half to come on and head balls out the box, when they have two huge strikers on the pitch, he comes on and does his job.

“Craig Forsyth was left out and came on for Lee Buchanan. There was no disappointment and did a job for the team. We are going to need every single player in that squad from now until the end of the season.”

Following back-to-back away fixtures, Derby return to Pride Park Stadium on Saturday when they play host to Middlesbrough (3pm kick-off).

Rosenior concluded: “The key is to get some sleep, get some rest, and we know what this league is like.

“It is non-stop, and Middlesbrough are a very strong, physical team so it’s going to be difficult on Saturday. The players need to rest and recuperate and we will prepare on Friday to hopefully win the game on Saturday.”