Max Bird has highlighted what cost Derby County in their ‘disappointing’ draw to Shrewsbury Town at the weekend.
Max Bird‘s commitment to the club could now been questioned by fans after he completed a move to Bristol City, before instantly returning to Derby County on loan.
The midfielder will see out the rest of the campaign as he looks to help the Rams win promotion back to the Championship, after spending the last 14 years with the club.
Bird hoped to have made one big contribution at the weekend though, having scored the opener against Shrewsbury just short of the hour mark.
A win for Derby could have taken them three points clear of third place, however a late equaliser from The Shrews meant they had to settle for a point.
Bird was frustrated by the Rams’ failure to clinch the win on home soil, admitting that it was ‘so important’ for them to have grabbed a second.
Speaking to Rams TV, the 23-year-old said: D“One hundred per cent we should have had more. I feel as though we chucked the game away, really. It was a poor goal to concede and wasn’t the best of games.
“I thought we could have been a bit more brave, showed a bit more courage on the ball. We found a way to get in front and take a lead but we couldn’t keep hold of it and it’s a disappointing result in the end.
“The second goal is so important, especially at home lots of teams will come here and have a back five but have a bit more enthusiasm because they are coming to Pride Park and playing Derby County. It was a poor goal to concede.
“We’re still in a good position and we’ve got another big game Tuesday, every game is big now. We’ll rest up, have a look back at the game see where we can improve, go to Exeter and try and get three points there.
“I see enough in there to get where we want to, I think everyone does. Everyone wants to get promoted in the top two. We don’t want the play-offs, we want to get up top two because we know we can do it. We knew that results were going our way today and it was a disappointing result in the end but we can’t dwell.”
What is Derby County’s problem?
Derby County have won seven games in the last two months, but have only managed to win by more than a one goal margin on two occasions.
In particular since the turn of the year, the Rams seem to have struggled to shut teams down and confirm a result before 90 minutes is up.
Paul Warne‘s side have struggled for that attacking spark at times this year and it’s games like Shrewsbury that it ends up costing them.
James Collins has only scored one goal in the last five games too and his absence on the scoresheet becomes very apparent when the team don’t seem to be able to rely on anyone else for that outlet.