Tue 12 Aug - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 3mins
Head Coach John Eustace praised the grit of his Derby County team as a late fightback saw them draw 1-1 at West Bromwich Albion in Round One of the Carabao Cup - before winning 3-2 on penalties.
West Brom took the lead in a close-run tie at the Hawthorns, but Joe Ward’s free-kick deep into added time saw the Rams equalise and meant the game was decided via penalty shoot-out.
Derby prevailed from the spot, winning 3-2 with two saves from Josh Vickers helping them to Second Round qualification.
Eustace spoke to RamsTV after his side progressed to the next stage of the competition.
The players never give up, which has happened since I've come to the football club. We've got a squad of players this year, and last year, that will fight to the end. I was very proud of the efforts.
I think the most important thing is that we got minutes in the boys' legs, vital minutes to players that needed to get them in their bodies at the moment.
We've got players on catch-up. We've got David Ozoh, who I thought was excellent for the 60 minutes he was on the pitch. You can see he's still a little bit off the match pace, but we must get them in. Andi Weimann also played only his second game in six months. It is important he gets them minutes in during the season; he's going to be an excellent signing for us.
To see Wardy come back from the injuries he's had was really pleasing. That was his first 90 minutes for about 18 months. It was great for Jake Rooney too to get his first competitive match in two years.
Dajaune Brown and Lennon Wheeldon coming in and getting good pitch time was good. It’s really important that we keep pushing the Academy players through; the club's had a fantastic Academy over recent years. I really wanted to give them an opportunity tonight as well and it was fully deserved.
They never let me down, and they never let the club down. Every player in that dressing room wears their heart on their sleeves and they're very, very proud to play for Derby County. I'm very proud to be the Head Coach here, as well as the staff. We all love coming to work every day, and we want to help build the football club in the right way.
I've said in the last couple of weeks that in the short-term it's going to be tough because we're not where we want to be right now. We're a little bit behind, but we've stuck in games and we've held on in there. On Saturday at Stoke, we could have easily come away with a really good point, but we didn't. We kept going to the end tonight and we got a fantastic equaliser.
The Hawthorns
Middlesbrough
Hull City
Wrexham
Derby County
Norwich City
Birmingham City
Swansea City
Bristol City
