Derby boss Eustace on Travis mistake and ‘emotion’ for ex-Rovers players

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John Eustace felt that the “emotion” got the better of some of his Derby players during the first half against Blackburn Rovers but was pleased with their response after the break.

Lewis Travis gave away a free kick which led to Hayden Carter’s opener on the stroke of half time. Eustace says the ex-Rovers skipper “held his hands up” and must learn from it.

Ben Brereton Diaz, Sammie Szmodics and Dion Sanderson also played against their former side as the Rams fought back in the second half to take the points.

“I felt the whole of the first half, maybe the emotion of the game got to one or two of the players and that caused us an issue with and without the ball.

“But the second half, I thought Trav was excellent and I thought the rest of the group were as well.”

In addition to the history with Rovers for some of those involved, it was an important game for Derby’s play-off push to gain ground on the top six.

“I think all round, first half, a lot of the players had the emotion which probably affected the performance a little bit,” Eustace added.

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“It is a huge game, of course it is, like every game. But today, I think the emotion certainly got the best of a couple of players in that first half. Second half, we adapted. I thought the group were excellent.

“Blackburn's a fantastic football club and I'm delighted that they've been winning games now and hopefully they can pull away from that relegation, which they have been doing.

“They've got a fantastic manager there, fantastic staff at the football club, great fans, so hopefully they can keep going.”

When asked if there was any extra satisfaction to come out on top against his former club, Eustace replied: “No, not at all.”