Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne said he got exactly what he expected out of Saturday’s pre-season friendly at local non-league side Matlock Town.
The Rams were 2-0 winners at Causeway Lane thanks to a first half finish from striker James Collins and a late goal from Under-21s midfielder Ben Radcliffe.
The clash with the Gladiators was Derby’s first pre-season friendly ahead of the upcoming 2023/24 Sky Bet League One season and Warne utilised the opportunity to get match minutes into as many players as possible before a 2,300 sold-out crowd.
Warne spoke to RamsTV after the final whistle to give his verdict on the 90 minutes, as well as discuss the recent signings of Conor Washington and Sonny Bradley and look ahead to the squad flying out to their Spanish training camp on Sunday.
On the game…
It was exactly what I was expecting. The lads are leggy as all we’ve done this week is fitness and a bit of ball work. This was a box-ticking exercise really to give them all a similar amount of minutes. We didn’t want to take risks with Sibs and Knighty and, unfortunately, Tom Barkhuizen has picked up a problem with his calf, so we’ll see how bad that is. I’d have loved today to have been football eutopia but it isn’t about today, it’s about when the league starts so we’ll gradually build up to that. We had several youngsters in the group as well, who hadn’t played or trained together so we spread the experienced lads across things to help them, but I thought some of thelads came through with real credit and physically we look good. We know, though, the team will look somewhat different come the first game.
I’d have loved to have won 8-0 or 9-0 and been awesome but you don’t want to get the opening day and not have anything. I thought Matlock were good and made it difficult for us, but it didn’t have the same pace as a league game and we’ve got to build towards that. It was important for the group to get a feel of what it’s like again and pull on a Derby shirt again. We didn’t go into tactical detail beforehand and we just told them to put a shift in and look after themselves. It was nice for everyone to see the fans again and for them to see the new lads.
I loved some elements of what I saw; Callum Elder crossing to Joe Ward to get a shot away and also how many times Joe got the ball in the middle of the six yard box. I am aware we need more attacking prowess and goals across the team and that will come with recruitment and coaching.
On Conor Washington signing from Rotherham United…
I am very pleased to get Conor in. It takes a lot to get signings in and we’ve worked hard to get this one over the line. To get the better players in you must compete with other clubs and behind the scenes a lot has happened to get to this stage. Wash is someone I tried to sign prior to him joining Rotherham last summer and he is a striker who runs in behind all the time and stretches the play. We didn’t have that last year and we can’t always move the ball sideways and backwards to look for the perfect goal. Sometimes you need to be able to turn and stretch teams and then play from there. I love Wash as a human being and a man. His work ethic and dedication is great and he’s scored goals at this level for fun and in the Championship; he got six last year and only started about ten games. He will be a really good asset for us; it’s not always what you can do for the team in terms of statistics such as goals and assists. Wash will bring the best out of other players and he will be great in the dressing room. If you want to get promoted then it isn’t about having the best eleven, it’s about having the best squad and a good group of people who are driven for success.
On Sonny Bradley’s arrival after leaving Luton Town…
Sonny is a really good defender who I tried to sign a number of years ago when he left Plymouth for Luton. I know he wants to be a Championship defender again and I saw his interview last night. He doesn’t want to play in League One and nor do any of us; we want to be competing in the Championship. We’ve been looking to sign players that can not only play in this division but, should we be successful, they can be useful for us. Sonny is definitely one of those. He can bring a goal threat off set plays, as well as defending them, and he is a real leader. He will pull people about and we have some good defenders in Curtis Nelson, Eiran Cashin, Craig Forsyth and Sonny. If we play a back three, those lads can battle it out to start. Sonny, if this makes sense, is greater than some of his parts. The more the players you can have like that in your team, the better.
On the Spain training camp this week…
I am looking forward to this week and it’ll be a chance to work hard on and off the pitch. We’ll probably do things to get the players out of their comfort zone and we’ll have some fun too. They’ll be up very early for training before breakfast, they’ll train again and then they’ll train again later in the afternoon. We’ll do classroom work with them too and offer some down time. Once we get back from Spain the games keep coming and we’ve got some good matches to play.
