Bristol Street Motors Trophy Post-Match Verdict: 'As Good As We've Been' - Barker - Blog

Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker believes the first half performance against Fleetwood Town was as good as Derby County have been this season to date.

A brace from James Collins plus a late strike from Tyreece John-Jules cemented a comfortable 3-0 win for Derby under the Pride Park Stadium lights against their Sky Bet League One rivals in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy Round of 32.

Speaking to RamsTV after the match, Barker reflected on an impressive performance as the Rams progressed into the last 16 of the competition.

On the performance...

I thought the first half was arguably as good as we've been and in fairness off the back of recent league results, that is some statement. I'm very pleased with everybody's contribution and winning is a habit. We've continued that habit and we're through to the next round.

On James Collins' double...

As a striker, it doesn't matter what the competition is or who the opposition is, goals are goals and it's a good habit to get in to. He started a run of scoring off the back of the game against Wolves Under-21s in the Trophy and it's just nice to continue it. I am sure it will do him the world of good.

On scoring from set-pieces...

It's something we are constantly working on and Wardy's delivery was excellent. The second goal was important, no matter how it came, and fair play to Collo for gambling to get on the end of the cross.

On Tyreece John-Jules coming on to score again...

As soon as the ball fell to him I knew he was scoring because we see him do it in training every day. For his mindset and mentality to keep on the goal trail and keep scoring will keep his confidence high. There's still a long way to go with him with his fitness and we'll keep trying to build him up. There are even days in training where we can't push him too hard but you see it with the finishing, he's excellent off both feet and he's just calm and knows what he's going to do. He definitely brings us something that we've not had.

On the youngsters getting minutes late on...

Ideally we'd have got the second and third goals would have come earlier and we could have got them a few more minutes. We wanted to get more but we also want to win the game. That's no disrespect to the youngsters, we just didn't want to put them under that kind of pressure.