Derby County head coach John Eustace felt it was pleasing the way his team went head to head with “the best team in the league”, despite the Rams’ 2-1 defeat to the Blues at Pride Park.

Leif Davis’s 77th-minute header won the game for the Blues, Rhian Brewster’s penalty having equalised for the home team after one-time Town loanee Lewis Travis, who was sent off for a second bookable offence in the closing moments, had given his old side the lead with an eighth-minute own goal.

“I thought it was a great game, two good teams going toe-to-toe,” Eustace said. “It was really exciting to watch. I was very proud of the efforts of the group.”

Regarding the own goal, Eustace was asked whether it was a little unfortunate for his captain.

“Absolutely, I thought his all-round performance was excellent apart from the red card and obviously the own goal!” the former Blackburn boss smiled. “That’s something we’ve got to look at.

“But they put the ball in the right area and there were lots of bodies around and it’s come off the back of his head unfortunately.”

Quizzed on suggestions that some wrestling on the line involving Blues skipper Dara O’Shea, defender Danny Batth and keeper Josh Vickers might have led to a foul being awarded against Town, Eustace said: “I looked at it straight after the goal and it certainly seemed like that. I’m sure Sky have got a better view than we had.

“But, listen, we need to be better, we need to have better concentration and we have to clear the lines.”

Regarding Travis’s second yellow card for shoving a grounded Darnell Furlong off the pitch, Eustace felt referee Josh Smith set the tone from the start.

“I haven’t seen it yet,” Eustace added. “I felt there was a very early booking [Travis] right at the start of the game which set the tone for how the referee wanted to do things, which is fine.

“Everyone’s then on tenterhooks, really. You’ve got to realise the scale of the game, what it’s all about and disappointed, obviously, that he’s been shown that second yellow. When I watch it back, if he has deliberately fell on the lad, then he’ll get punished.”

Eustace was pleased with his side’s reaction having gone a goal behind: “I thought it was an amazing response. I’m really proud of the group. You can see how the group’s building and growing.

“To come up probably the best team in the league with the best squad of players and to go toe-to-toe with them, was really pleasing. We got a deserved equaliser and felt we could maybe go on and win the game.

“They’ve then made a lot of positive changes then. You look at their bench and that’s why they’re the top team, they’ve got the best squad. It certainly made a difference but the way we kept going was really pleasing.”

Asked whether things perhaps didn’t go well for his team in key moments, Eustace concurred:“Definitely. It’s something we’ve got to keep working on. We got in some fantastic areas. I thought our build-up play at times was good. Our defensive shape was good, we won the ball and got in some really good transitional areas.

“But we just couldn’t make the right decision or the final pass was just a bit loose today.

“We’re a work in progress, you can see the progress that we’re making. To go toe-to-toe with a top team like that, everyone can see that we are improving and we’re getting better as a team.”

Photo: TWTD