"We showed a real togetherness and fighting spirit" - Eustace relieves pressure with Rams' first win in ten
On Thursday, John Eustace said that “words are cheap”, but he may now place more value on them if they help Derby change their fortunes. It was a rallying cry from his duo of emergency experienced centre back signings, that he credits with helping turn the tide on Friday night.
“We could have quite easily gone under conceding just before the break,” he reflected. “Obviously, at half-time, we've got a couple of experienced boys in there now, in [Shane] Duffy and [Jack] Robinson, which has made a huge difference to us.
“You could see that in the performance tonight, and [that is] something that we've definitely been missing. The way they spoke together at half-time was pleasing.” Eustace added: “They came in and took charge, which is great. Then I obviously step in and do my bit.”
His ‘bit’ included a change of shape, which “certainly wasn't a last throw of the dice”. Having started in a 4-2-3-1 Eustace’s Rams set up with a back five after the break. “It was about when we won the ball back to be able to affect the opposition,” the head coach explained.
And within 43 seconds of the restart, they did exactly that. Ryan Nyambe, who was restored to his natural right back role as Duffy made his debut in the middle, did something which must have felt unnatural. On his 310th career appearance, the 28-year-old finally scored his first goal.
Carlton Morris’ ball from the left was helped on to the back post by a Mo Fuseini backheel before Nyambe turned in from three yards out. The finish was simple, and so too the celebration. The Namibia international simply ran back towards halfway with his right arm aloft, hugged by a couple of teammates en route.
This Derby side had work to do and were very much together.
Robinson’s role had been tweaked at the break too. After starting at left full back, he moved to a left centre back position in the back three. Opening his Derby account may not have been part of the plan, but that is exactly what the 33-year-old did.
After Morris headed Bobby Clark’s deep ball from the left back across goal, Robinson nodded past Bolton ‘keeper Jack Bonham from six-yards-out. Now celebrations were louder, with the Pride Park faithful roaring at seeing their side in front at home for just the third time this season.
Meanwhile, Robinson was mobbed by teammates. And Eustace? Well, not even he could explain his celebration, so I will not try to. “I don't know really. You do stupid things when you celebrate, don't you?” he said.
Don’t worry, John, we have all been there.
Perhaps buoyed by the crowd’s elation, Mo Fuseini could then have given the visitors a mountain to climb after combining well with Clark and Morris but was denied by Bonham’s right hand. After 52 minutes, it was the first big save that the Trotters’ shot-stopper had made, with Jacob Widell Zetterström much busier at the other end.
Sweden’s number one had been forced to parry a header from Chris Forino after he arrived at the back post from a corner and later denied Xavier Simons from 20 yards with a fine diving stop. But Zetterström was powerless to prevent Rúben Rodrigues finding the bottom-right corner from 14 yards after a dangerous run down the right and low cross from Gaizka Larrazabal, who had earlier fashioned Simons a near-identical chance.
After failing to track runs too often in the first half, Derby were excellent defensively in the second half, with Duffy, who had failed to adequately mark Rodrigues for the opener exceptional. The experienced Irishman’s presence seemed to help Dion Sanderson, with the duo amassing 11 defensive contributions each.
The game was never comfortable, as you would expect with just 22 per cent of the ball in the second half. Rodrigues went close to a second from 20 yards and Zetterström had to make flying save to deny Sam Dalby from six yards. But, remarkably after shipping four goals versus Millwall and Norwich, it was a half of brilliant backs-to-the-wall defending for a head coach whose position had appeared similar.
There are valid questions over the sustainability of this approach and style of play, but there can be no question as to whether the players have downed tools or have stopped for their boss. They categorically have not. Instead, this was a side who successfully channelled the hurt which Eustace said everyone was feeling on Thursday.
“Tonight's performance felt like when I first came in. When we were seven points off, staying with 11 games to go and we found a way,” Eustace said. Indeed, with the quickfire double, the fact it came at the start of the second half and the disciplined back three after the break, there were shades of those early victories over Blackburn, Coventry and Preston.
Those wins came as part of a four-game win streak, which also included victory over Plymouth. But despite Derby looking to overcome that same seven-point deficit, which has been cut to four until others play on Saturday at least, the Rams boss is not thinking about a similar run.
He said: “I think it's important that we just keep picking points up as much as we can. It's not about thinking going on a winning streak or anything like that now. It's just about we've got to ten points. We're not getting carried away.
There you have another Eustace trademark, the ‘don’t get too high or too low’ mantra alongside the ‘fighters not victims’ mentality his side embodied after the break on Friday night. Then there is managing to get more out of players who are putting a shit in for the team while playing in an unfamiliar position. During ‘The Great Escape’ it was Marcus Harness up front, here it was forward Rhian Brewster at left wing back under the guidance of Robinson next to him.
Eustace said: “I think he was outstanding. As I said, he really sacrificed his attacking side of the game tonight to help the team out, to allow us to do something else. But then he's obviously popped up at the end with a great goal as well. So, his all-round performance tonight was excellent.”
That goal came in the fourth of five added minutes, when the number 10 burst out of the backline to press and dispossess Larrazabal before running through and smashing the ball across goal and into the top-right corner.
It was a great end to a huge night, as Derby secured their first win in ten games and their first at Pride Park this season. Now comes the international break, which Eustace believes is well-timed for his side.
He said: “It’s a good time to be able to rest a few players. There's four or five who have had injections tonight before the game. They haven't been training. It just shows how light and thin the squad has been. It gives us all an opportunity to reset.
Under immense pressure, Eustace has pulled it out of the bag with a half of football that displayed many of the qualities which saw Derby fans back him being in the dugout. It was a throwback to his first wins, and the spirit of the 2024-25 run-in. With the Rams currently in a survival scrap, albeit with much more time to turn things around, that may well be what they need, and Eustace has bought himself some more time to deliver it.
Goals: Nyambe 46’, Robinson 49’, Brewster 90+4’ | Rodrigues 42’.
Derby (4-2-3-1): Zetterström (GK); Nyambe, Sanderson, Duffy, Robinson; Ozoh, Travis (C) (Mowatt 73’); Brewster, Clark, Fuseini (Fraulo 90+2’) Morris (Salvesen 90+2’).
Unused substitutes: Vickers (GK); Johnston, Gordon, Canoville; Bilbija; Blackett-Taylor.
Bolton (4-2-3-1): Bonham (GK); Stephenson (Iling-Junior 71’), Forino-Joseph, Famewo (Bair 82’), Conway; Simons (Ito 71’), Sheehan (C); Larrazabal, Rodrigues (Lott 90+1’), Gale (Dong 70’); Dalby.
Unused substitutes: Harrington (GK); Davies, Brunt; Watson.
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