Derby County’s hopes of reaching Wembley in the EFL Trophy were ended on Tuesday night as they were knocked out by Bradford City.
On a bitterly disappointing night at Pride Park, Derby slipped to a 1-0 defeat against the League Two Bantams thanks to a Sam Stubbs header in the second half.
Paul Warne made six changes to the side that beat Fleetwood Town 3-1 in League One, giving starts to the likes of Tyrese Fornah, Callum Elder and Louie Sibley.
It seemed reasonable for Warne to give some of his key players a rest in what has been a busy schedule, but that decision backfired.
Derby passed up the opportunity to progress into the quarter-finals of the EFL Trophy and that was all down to the visitors, who didn’t allow the hosts to create any clear-cut opportunities.
Despite starting with top scorer James Collins up front, the Rams didn’t manage to register a single shot on target while Bradford managed five.
On a night where several had the chance to stake their claim for regular minutes in the side, none of them took that opportunity in what was an embarrassing performance.
Liam Thompson, who was making just his fourth start of the campaign in midfield, also failed to take his rare chance to impress Warne.
Liam Thompson fails to take chance in Bradford loss
In League One, Max Bird and Conor Hourihane have solidified themselves as an instrumental midfield duo.
They were desperately missed against Bradford as Thompson struggled to have an impact on the game in the advanced playmaker role.
Although he’s naturally a defensive midfielder, he was given a chance to showcase his qualities further forward, and he didn’t take it.
Despite completing a reasonable 84% of his passes, he made zero successful dribbles, no key passes and only one accurate long ball, as per Sofascore.
He even made fewer touches than goalkeeper Josh Vickers, which highlights how little impact he had in possession
From a defensive point of view, though, was where it got worse for the 21-year-old, who didn’t win any of his ground duels, or any tackles and only won one of his aerial duels.
At half-time, it was clear that Warne had seen enough from some of his players and decided to substitute the midfield trio of Thompson, Sibley and Fornah.
Thompson replaced Max Bird and the 23-year-old – who has been linked with a move to Hull City – made a far bigger impact.
Although he was only on the pitch for 45 minutes, he won all four of his ground duels, made three tackles and accurately placed all five of his long balls.
Perhaps the result would have been different if Warne started with his strongest side, but this was a night where the fringe players had their chance, and they blew it.