DERBY County coach Andy Garner admitted he felt for Coventry City after the Rams battled to a 1-0 win against the Championship’s bottom club, but said he was ‘absolutely delighted’ to grind out a fifth win on the trot.
The Sky Blues may count themselves unlucky to have left Pride Park with nothing but their pride after a display which proved there are no easy games in the Championship.
Garner was quick to praise the opposition, who had given the in-form Rams a thorough examination, but said getting the win and not conceding for the fourth time in five games was a massive boost.
“I think the players in the dressing room at the moment know they’ve been in a game, that’s for sure,” he said.
“There are a few tired legs in there. All credit to Coventry, I thought they were excellent throughout the game — especially in the first half.
“I think we upped it in the second half but it was a difficult game. For them to be bottom of the league and put on a performance like that is a bit scary really — I thought they were excellent.
“We were delighted to come in at halftime (at 0-0). They had a lot of possession and we were struggling a bit to be honest with you.
“But the most important thing is you don’t concede and that is what we are trying to instil at the moment. A couple of months ago we might have conceded and come in losing 1-0.
“So we just asked them to step things up and get at them a little bit more and put them under a bit of pressure.
“I think we did that to be fair, but saying that Coventry were still a threat second half.”
There was no doubting the turning point in the game as Frank Fielding saved brilliantly from Gary McSheffrey moments before the Rams clinched the points with Callum Ball’s fine strike.
“It was an absolutely massive moment,” Garner said. “If you speak to their manager he will probably say it sums their season up.
“It was a magnificent header and a brilliant save and 60 seconds later, fortunately for us and unfortunately for them, we are 1-0 up.
“That sums it up for them.
“But it was a great goal. It started with Robbo (Theo Robinson) making a great tackle to win the ball and four passes later Bally is sliding it in to the net with an absolutely magnificent finish.”
Derby are top of the Championship form guide after a fifth win on the bounce and Garner said it was great achievement after coming through a sticky spell in November which saw them plummet down the table.
“It’s absolutely brilliant,” he said. “When you’ve had Leeds and West Ham at home (and win) the expectation’s there, and when Coventry comes the crowd think it’s three points in the bag, but today shows it doesn’t work like that at all.
“We’ve had to grind it out today but that’s the pleasing thing for us. We’ve got to roll our sleeves up and if it’s not very pretty, if that’s what it takes, then we will take that.”
