Paul Warne hailed the performance of Martyn Waghorn after he netted at hat-trick in the Rams’ 4-2 win away at Peterborough United.
Peterborough had taken the lead through talisman Jonson Clarke-Harris, but Derby bounced back through Waghorn, who bagged his hat-trick all within the first half, 16 minutes to be exact.
Warne praised his summer signing’s performance, telling the Derby Telegraph: “It’s usually a good day at the office when one of your strikers scores a hat-trick and I’m sure everyone will talk about Waggy’s goals, but it’s everything else I like about him.
“He thoroughly deserves his hat-trick, but I’ve said many times it’s not just what he does on the pitch alone.
“It’s also all the stuff off the pitch… how he is in the dressing room, how he drives training, how he picks the young lads up. He is a real force for us.”
Paul Warne pleased to get one over Darren Ferguson
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Warne also spoke about how happy he was with the result, as he does not usually have muhc luck against Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson’s teams.
“Peterborough are a really good side,” Warne told the Peterborough Telegraph. “They are very young and very athletic and they played really well at the start of the match. They have very good wingers.
“We set up in a way that we thought would work, but after 20 minutes we had to tweak it to stop Peterborough playing through us. We had stood off them a bit and showed them too much respect.
“I don’t seem to ever have much joy against Fergie’s teams and I was really disappointed with the goal we conceded.
“But I fancy us to out-score most teams so it wasn’t a massive drama to fall behind.
“The reaction from the lads was really pleasing and everything that could go right for us for the rest of the first half, did.
“We were fortunate to go in at half-time with such a favourable scoreline as it was a basketball match at times.
“There were opportunities for both teams in the second-half, but I was disappointed to lose a second goal at the end.
“It’s a really tough place to come and I have the upmost respect for the way they do things as a club.
“They will always be a top six club in this division so to leave here with a win is a great result for the dressing room.”