Assistant Head Coach Richie Barker hailed Derby County’s display in their 3-0 victory at in-form Exeter City as ‘a pretty good away performance’ as they held onto second place in Sky Bet League One.
Midfielder Max Bird set Derby on their way with a long-range strike in the first half before forward Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and substitute Tom Barkhuizen added further goals in the second period to confirm a convincing away victory for Paul Warne’s side.
Speaking to RamsTV after the final whistle, Barker was delighted to see the side record their eleventh away win of the season so far in the league.
On the win and the performance…
We are obviously very pleased with the result and with the players for doing what we asked of them, which was something a little bit different in an away game. You have to win matches in different ways sometimes. We surrendered possession a little bit tonight, allowing Exeter to have the ball in certain areas and then pressing them. We saw that with the first goal from Max Bird. We pressed in a slightly different way and everyone had to buy into it. You’re only as strong as your weakest link and if someone switches off, it doesn’t work. We did some work on the training ground yesterday and in the team hotel today, so when you see it pay off and score a goal from it, it feels good. We didn’t have loads of time to work on it and had to cram a lot of information into a short period of time, so it makes it feel even better and the job worthwhile. Birdy did well for his goal because he is an intelligent lad and takes great pride in his learning and listening. He got his rewards, as did the team. They all understood the importance of playing how we did. Was it a perfect performance? No. Was it a pretty good away performance? I think so.
On the quality of the goals…
They were all great in their own ways, but they were all counterattack goals. We knew that if we could win the ball back, we’d have chances. We looked bright on the turnover and had players willing to run with pace to get forward.
On getting the second and third goals to kill the game off…
Particularly at home, we’ve found that crucial second goal hard to come by lately. We’ve seen that if you don’t get it, you can give teams opportunities back into the game. It was pleasing we got those goals from Nat and Tom to take control of things and avoid inviting pressure.
On Corey Blackett-Taylor going off at half-time…
His hamstring was a bit tight. He is powerful and pacy player, so you can’t be risking those types of issues and we felt it right to take him off. Eiran Cashin tightened up a bit later on, after missing a week or so of training, so we got him off too. We need everyone, though. It isn’t just about those who start and those that come off the bench are so important to us with the part they play.
On James Collins’ tireless work up top…
Collo is OK. He takes some hammer, doesn’t he? He puts his body on the line for the team. His work ethic is phenomenal, and he is fantastic team player. He deserves every minute, and goal, he gets because of what he does for the team.
On the away form and travelling faithful…
We have an amazing following. To travel something like three-and-a-half hours down the motorway on a Tuesday night is incredible. To reward the fans with a win feels good and to celebrate with them is a nice feeling. When we’ve achieved promotion as a coaching staff previously, the away wins have been so important. You can’t just rely on your home form. When we came in last year, the team hadn’t won or scored away from home. To go from that to having the best away record is one of our biggest achievements.
