Paul Warne bemoaned an inability to win physical battles as Derby County were beaten 3-1 by Stevenage this afternoon.
The Rams ha
d fallen behind when Jordan Roberts struck a free-kick, but equalised when Nathaniel Mendez-Laing scored his second goal of the week. But Steve Evans’ side were ahead on the stroke of half-time when Alex MacDonald scored with a free-kick from outside the box.
Conor Washington then wasted a fine chance to make it 2-2 and Derby were made to pay for that miss when Kane Hemmings scored the third. There was a chorus of boos at the final whistles as the tension ramped up again as Derby failed to back up their win over Exeter in midweek.
READ MORE: Derby County player ratings v Stevenage
And Warne said: “I just don’t think we won enough battles. That’s the honest truth. It was a different sort of game. They are going to turn you all the time. They are physical and don’t win enough battles collectively.
“There are more games in this in League One then there are Exeter at home. But when push came to shove I just didn’t think we were physical enough. Our first half performance wasn’t great and apart from two free-kicks I didn’t see them scoring.
“In the second half, we started the game really well, we got into some unbelievable positions and Conor Washington has a really good chance and if you score it becomes 2-2 but the longer the game goes on, you are susceptible to the third goal I appreciate that.
