First Team Coach Matt Hamshaw says Derby County had to 'find a different way to win' in the 1-0 victory over Port Vale on Tuesday night.


The Rams ground out the narrow victory at Vale Park in a result Hamshaw called a real 'confidence booster' for the sqaud.

On-loan Arsenal striker Tyreece John-Jules came off the bench to score his first Rams goal with his first touch with just over ten minutes left after returning from a frustrating spell out injured.

Speaking to RamsTV after the match, Hamshaw gave his verdict on the performance.


On the performance...

I'm really happy, really pleased and pleased for the fans. We've got fond memories of this place after winning here last season and to come away with another win and see smiles on faces behind the goal at the end is really pleasing. It is a good confidence booster for the lads.

We dug in tonight and the things we want from our team, we saw. Games are won in different ways and we had to win in a different way tonight. I'm really pleased we have.

On finding different ways to win...

I think all good teams win in different ways. No game is the same. There's different obstacles and different challenges and there's nobody in League One that aren't going to be competitive. We've put smiles on peoples faces and that's what we want to do.


On the winning goal...

It was an excellent moment. Nat Mendez-Laing had been getting a bit frustrated but he picked a good pass with a bit of composure and the ruthlessness to take it from Tyreece John-Jules was brilliant. He's had a tough period and we're really pleased for him. Collo and Waggy were jumping up behind me after the goal so it's nice that we've got the togetherness from the group.

On seeing the game out...

Sonny Bradley came on and won a few headers. Cash was excellent again tonight. Nels looks like he's been playing for Derby County for years which is the biggest compliment I can give him. The fact they can win headers, compete and see the game out - there's going to be times where that's needed.


On four wins in a row in Sky Bet League One...

Winning breeds confidence and confidence goes onto the pitch and we've got good players so when you've got that, it's a dream combination. As staff we want to keep a level keel and don't let the players get too up or too down. Everything is the same whether we win, lose or draw and we go again and look forward to the next game.

On the week's break before returning to action...

We're all at games as a group of staff at the weekend and we've got training to do so it will be business as usual. We'll be looking at what we can do to help the team and planning for Tuesday's Bristol Street Motors tie against Fleetwood Town and the other fixtures that are coming up. It's going to be a tough Christmas period that we need everyone to pull together and really stay behind the lads.