Derby County continued their impressive winning streak against Leyton Orient over the weekend much to Paul Warne’s delight.
Derby County continued their growing winning run on Saturday in a 3-0 thrashing of a 10-man Leyton Orient side who looked outclassed.
Paul Warne’s side was dominant for the most part however the boss wasn’t completely pleased by the result.
He said: “The lads controlled the game okay but I can’t say I am over the moon. I am not being greedy, it’s just about winning especially away. Get the result, get off, good.”
The red card likely proved to be the game-defining factor despite Warne admitting it wasn’t something he was happy to see happen.
Here are three things we learned from Derby’s win over Orient…
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing is a standout
In the game, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was the game’s best player as he managed to score and assist for Derby in the 89 minutes he featured for.
According to SofaScore he also managed to have four key passes and created two big chances.
A creative and goalscoring masterclass from Mendez-Laing and Derby will need him to keep performing like this if they are to continue rising up the table.
Paul Warne could have Derby targeting promotion
Derby’s win was their sixth consecutive win which has seen them go strength to strength in a rampant rise up the league table.
Now sitting fifth and just three points off automatic promotion, Warne will be confident that he can turn his side into playoff favourites.
Next up for Derby is 15th place Wycombe and then a chance to distance themselves from the chasing pack against ninth place Lincoln.
Derby will need to be better with the ball to beat the bigger teams
Despite dominating, Derby will need to be aware that their poor ball retention needs to be addressed.
Against 10-man Orient is one thing but against fellow promotion contenders, Derby will need to keep the ball better or they could see substantial pressure on their goal.
It was a good win, but the fact Warne wasn’t completely delighted with the win, says a lot.