Paul Warne has admitted that the first half of Derby County’s clash with Wycombe Wanderers felt ‘a little bit like the Wild West’.
The Rams hosted Wycombe off the back of five wins in League One, while they hadn’t conceded a goal in their last three games in all competitions. Meanwhile, the visitors were without a league win since the start of October.
Despite dominating possession, Derby County played out a very dull game in which there was a combined total of three shots on target. It took Paul Warne’s side 83 minutes to take the lead through Tom Barkhuizen, before Luke Leahy snatched an 98th minute equaliser from the penalty spot.
While there was a lack of goal action at Pride Park, the game wasn’t short of fouls, with all five of Derby’s yellow cards being shown in the first half.
Warne has admitted that he was eager to make a change before Derby found themselves down to ten men, however his lack of options on the bench prevented him from doing so.
Speaking to DerbyshireLive after the match, Warne said: “It did feel a little bit like the Wild West in the first half and I felt like there was a red card coming.
“I told the midfielders I could have taken any of them off because of the situation but we only really had Tyrese Fornah as an established midfielder to come on.”
When asked about the weekend’s performance, the manager said: “Probably the same as everybody else in the stadium. I was disappointed with our first half performance and we had three central midfielders booked, so had to change it.
“We didn’t seem to have any urgency in our play but I thought our second half performance was significantly better. We made as many attacking substitutions as we could and we got our goal through Tom (Barkhuizen).
“Unfortunately for us, when it comes to managing the game out, we’ve dropped four points like this, against Portsmouth in September and today. Those four points would have put us second in the table. It feels more like a defeat than a well earned point.”
Did bookings cost Derby County the three points?
Conor Hourihane, Max Bird, Louie Sibley, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and James Collins were all booked in the first half of Derby County’s draw with Wycombe Wanderers.
It is rather out of character for a team that currently sit 19th in the League One fair play table, having picked up 37 yellow cards and one red this term.
But the team’s lack of composure against The Chairboys ultimately cost them the game, with an entire midfield having to spent the entire second half treading on egg shells.
It is a very frustrating one for Derby, but there may have been very few complaints if they had managed to come through without giving away a penalty with the last kick of the game.
It certainly feels like a defeat for the Rams, but they do remain unbeaten in the third tier since mid-October and their bid for promotion is far from over.