Conor Hourihane believes Derby County are showing they are capable of picking up wins in different ways this season.
Derby picked up their ninth win in 11 Sky Bet League One fixtures on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 success at Fleetwood Town.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, James Collins and Tom Barkhuizen got their names on the scoresheet as Paul Warne’s side registered their fifth straight away win.
Hourihane played a key role in the middle of the park and delivered the corner for Collins to head home the Rams’ second on the stroke of half-time.
Speaking to RamsTV after the win at Highbury Stadium, the Derby skipper was pleased to see the side show an immediate response to their first league reverse in over two months on New Year’s Day against Peterborough United and display their battling qualities.
On getting three more points on the board…
It is massive to get a win straight away after losing against Peterborough in our last fixture. We were disappointed to lose late on in that one and today was about getting the job done. We wanted to get the three points and be back on the winning trail, more than anything else. We want to get on another strong run and we know we have to bounce back from setbacks. We showed a bit of character today as we could have been deflated after the defeat on Monday. We knew, with it being the early kick-off, that teams will have been watching us to see how we got on, so to get the win is really important.
On having to dig in…
It is always important to dig in. The gaffer is very experienced at this level and he knew what was coming in terms of the threat that Fleetwood pose from set plays. We had a bit more height with Sonny Bradley coming into the side and that definitely helped us. Credit to the lads at the back, they were great.
On getting another assist for James Collins…
It’s always pleasing to get an assist and credit to Collo because he’s on a great scoring run. He got across the front post and took his goal really well. It is something we’ve been working on, even since last season, as we know how important set plays can be in matches and especially if you’re under pressure or not playing well. It was a big, big goal just before half-time and very similar to the one at Oxford recently where it set us up to kick on in the second half.
On being clinical in front of goal…
If you think back to last season, we maybe would have struggled in a game like this. We could easily have let points slip away or get rolled over. The gaffer has said it to us, we’re playing well and battling well right now and we’re showing different sides to our game, which is great. If we’re going to be successful, we need that in abundance.
On getting another away win in front of a sold-out away end…
Away wins are important and we know the fans are going to fill out the away end every week. Credit to the supporters for backing us near and far and being behind us. We wanted to give them a win to send them home happy and we’re happy to do it again today.
