Derby County manager Paul Clement has praised his side following Saturday’s 2-1 win against Preston and challenged them to continue winning by saying “now let’s go on a run”, the Derby Telegraph reports.
The victory at Deepdale was Derby’s first of the season, having failed to secure all of the points in any of their first five league games.
Pressure began to mount on Clement after a summer of big spending, bringing in the likes of Bradley Johnson, Tom Ince and Andreas Weimann. a Chris Martin double took the Rams up to 14th in the table, and the Derby boss admitted that there was some relief that they had managed to bring home all three points.
“We have to build on that, starting at Reading on Tuesday, and that’s what I said to the players in the dressing room afterwards,” the Derby Telegraph quotes Clement as saying.
“I won’t shy away from the point that we have not started the season well in terms of results. So, of course, there was some relief after the win.
“I am really pleased for the players because the longer it goes without getting victories you can become anxious.
“The result and not necessarily the performance was very important after the disappointment of losing to Leeds.”
Despite the victory, Clement admitted that his side were not at their best throughout the game. “Maybe this was one of our poorest displays in terms of our football. Better in the first half but a poor game in the second half,” The 43-year-old told the press after the game.
Whilst he criticised the display on show by his side, Clement did praise the “resilience of the players.”
“They showed another side to their game, they showed they could deal with a direct physical battle.”
