Speaking to the club’s official website, Derby County manager Philip Cocu has said that the club “are in a good place” at the moment, as shown by their 1-0 away win over Premier League side Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Third Round on Sunday afternoon.
Derby County secured their place in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon, with Chris Martin scoring the only goal of the game as Philip Cocu’s side secured their first away win in all competitions since the opening day of the season.
Chris Martin scored the only goal of the game just after the half-hour mark, converting from close range after good work from Jayden Bogle.
Palace were reduced to 10-men late on in the second half after Luka Milivojevic and Tom Huddlestone tussled, with referee Michael Oliver referring to the pitchside screen to look at replays of the incident, making his the first referee to do so in English football.
Speaking after the game, Rams boss Philip Cocu moved to say that his side are in a “good place” at the moment after they sealed a third consecutive win, also praising Wayne Rooney and Tom Huddlestone for the roles they played in the middle of the park. He said:
“I am happy with the win; we go into the Fourth Round and it is special. I think this result shows that we are in a good place and also how we played the game today, it was a great team performance.
“We needed five or ten minutes early on to see how Crystal Palace played, how they pressed and to find a way out from the back. We just went out and said like in our other games, home or away, we wanted to be brave and to play.
“With the combination with Wayne Rooney and Tom Huddlestone in the midfield, we wanted to be supported and build things up. They had excellent deliveries for the boys who made the runs.
“We knew if we could break with the first press then the midfield would have more space to get on the ball from what we saw in the games that Crystal Palace had played. The lads did fantastic doing it.”
