Sun 11 Jan - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 4mins
Derby County Head Coach John Eustace believes there are ‘loads of positives’ to take from the Rams’ 3-1 defeat to Leeds United in the Emirates FA Cup.
His side led until close to the hour mark after Ben Brereton Diaz’s first-half opener at Pride Park Stadium, before the Premier League side battled back to seal their progression to the Fourth Road.
As well as showcasing an impressive display against higher league opposition, Eustace was delighted with the first showings of Oscar Fraulo and Academy graduate Owen Eames, who both made their Derby debuts on Sunday afternoon.
Building up to three Sky Bet Championship matches in seven days, the Rams’ midfield was further strengthened by Lewis Travis completing 60 minutes - as he stepped up his return from injury – and David Ozoh, who came on after 11 weeks out through injury.
Speaking to RamsTV after the full-time whistle, Eustace discussed his side’s performance, another strong showing from Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, and his growing midfield options.
I thought it was a great effort. I thought we were really competitive in the first half; we went toe-to-toe with a top team. The players that came in were exceptional in that first half, then we ran out of legs a little bit in the second half.
Obviously, when you're up against a Premier League team, it's always going to be difficult. Leeds have an amazing squad; they had that in the Championship last year. That's why they won the league with 100 points.
I'm disappointed to lose the game, but there's loads of positives to take out of the game.
It's important that we gave good minutes to players that need it. Everyone's attitude was very good. We ran out of legs a little bit in the second half, but let's look at the positives.
Owen Eames getting his debut, he's been working very hard for that. Danny Batth and Fozzy [Craig Forsyth] were excellent coming in. Trav starting a game for the first time in 11 week and David Ozoh getting some really good minutes was important too.
They're going to need their minutes with the run of games coming up. There's loads of positives to take out of the game and it's important now that we regroup, refresh and start again in the league with a really difficult game away next week at Preston.
Oscar was excellent. I thought for the first 45 minutes, he certainly made a big difference. It was always the plan to play him for 45 minutes.
Obviously, he hasn't had many minutes this season, but in the 10 days or so he's been in with us, he's done very well in training. It's important we looked after him properly and I was very impressed.
I like his energy and how enthusiastic he is. He can certainly find a pass and score a goal as well. I'm delighted that we could give him his debut.
There's been a lot of hard work behind the scenes with the Academy, and he fully deserves his chance. I'm pleased that he's got some minutes for the club.
I love to give young players their opportunity and Owen certainly deserves his. Hopefully, that will inspire the other Academy lads a little bit and we can see a few more come through.
He's a top goalkeeper. He's working really hard with Paul Clements, who's one of the best goalie coaches in the country, in my opinion.
You can see the progression of Josh [Vickers] as well and Rich [O’Donnell] pushing him. We've got a really strong goalkeeping unit here.
After his superb display between the sticks, Jacob Widell Zetterstrom also spoke to Rams TV post-match.
We put up a very good fight against a very good side. Obviously, it's very disappointing to lose, especially since we had that lead coming into halftime, but I think there's much to take away from the game, in terms of positives.
That three [goals conceded] in the scoresheet doesn't really reflect the game, but I think there's plenty of positives to look back on, like Owen Eames making this debut – he was absolutely fantastic.
He's been working so hard every single day these last few months. He’s a great guy, a great talent, and always shows up with a with great intensity on the pitch.
I was pleased but it's hard to look at those things right now. That's maybe something to start thinking about tomorrow.
At the moment, I’m mainly disappointed - not just for the team, but with myself as well. There are good things to take away from this game but also things to learn from as well.
We've got 20 more games to come. There isn’t going to be a single easy game out of those 20, but it's going to be very fun as well. I'm looking forward to every single one of them, starting on Saturday.
We've put ourselves in a great spot to perform really well in these last 20 games, but also to climb even higher in the league table. I’m disappointed not to have more cup games, but now we can give our full focus on the 20 games remaining.
