Derby County Head Coach John Eustace praised his side’s performance but admitted they were made to rue falling short in crucial moments as they exited the Carabao Cup with a 2-1 loss against Premier League side Burnley.
Bobby Clark’s first goal for the Rams levelled the game after 35 minutes on Tuesday night, following Premier League Burnley’s early goal at Turf Moor through Aaron Ramsey.
Derby pushed their top-flight opponents in a combative second half, but Oliver Sonne’s goal deep in added time knocked Eustace’s side out of the cup.
The Rams will now look ahead to Sky Bet Championship action when they make the trip to Ipswich Town on Saturday (3pm kick-off) ahead if the first international break of the season.
Eustace spoke to RamsTV afterthe final whistle at Turf Moor.
On a competitive showing against Burnley…
We're growing into the season and we're getting better, but we've lost the game from just a lack of concentration at the end. The two goals that we conceded can be stopped.
We knew we'd always have opportunities on the turnover. The way we conceded at the end was poor. We've got to keep working on the training field. We've got to keep learning and that's what we're going to take from tonight.
On seeing positive signs in the team's play…
The way we played was excellent at times tonight. We really dug in, our shape was really good. We looked a threat on the transitions.
Overall, it was a great performance by the group. We got some real vital minutes into some key players as well, which is really important. To be able to do that and still perform like that was really pleasing.
On Bobby Clark’s first goal for the club and the squad growing into the season…
There was great build-up play - it was excellent. There's a lot of hard work on the training field, which has gone into our possession-based football. When the opportunity came, I thought the football was good - and it was a fantastic finish.
We're growing. We're getting players fitter, and it's been a slow start. The attitude of the boys has been fantastic. We know where we're going to end up and where we want to be and it's going to take a lot of hard work.
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