Our supporters were good to stay with us until the end

Last updated : 13 March 2006 By Tony Scholes

Westley was delighted with the performance that brought him his second win as caretaker manager at Pride Park. “We played some great, exciting stuff in the first half, and it was a joy even for me as the caretaker manager to see the team playing that well.

“It was two different halves – the first was one of attacking flair, while we were well organised, determined and solid in the second. If you combine those two then you get a great performance. It is not too often you say that, but it was today.

“That's as good as I've seen us in my time in charge, and in my four years at the club. Our attacking flair, the movement of the players when they don't have the ball, it was the best I've seen. We didn't sit back, we finished the game off”.

For Steve Cotterill is was a fifth successive defeat for his side. “It’s a very disappointing day for us again,” he said after the game. “We’ve had a few of those lately and we’ve got to keep trying to get back to a few of those happier days that we had a few months ago.”

Speaking about the goals he added, “The first goal was against the run of play and then Frank missed the header at the back stick, the second one wasn’t a foul on the edge of the box for me as both players jumped and if you give them a free kick in the final third you always know they’re going to be dangerous.

“The third goal should have been our free kick in our final third, but they have broken away and ended up getting a free kick on the edge of our box.

“Other than that, we weren’t good enough in free play although we probably had as much, if not more, possession without actually hurting them. The lack of confidence comes when we go a goal down. The first was against the run of play and the second one deflated them because it was a cheap free kick.

“I thought the home crowd were terrific for Derby because they did very well in influencing the referee. I thought he was a little bit intimidated by the crowd, but our supporters were good to stay with us until the end and try to lift the players’ sprits as much as they could.”