Shaun Derry was full of praise for his players after a battling draw at Sheffield United...
Notts County Manager Shaun Derry was full of praise for his players after they bounced back from a disappointing defeat to Yeovil Town last weekend to record a battling 1-1 draw at Sheffield United on Friday night.
The Notts boss told Magpie Player after the game: “It was a fantastic response from a major disappointment last week. The guys, I keep saying the same things, but they’re just brilliant to work with and I thought they really adapted to the system. We changed it up at one point after 15-20 minutes and restricted Sheffield United to half chances, we just couldn’t hold on.”
Things could have been even better for Notts, had on-loan winger Stephen McLaughlin taken a chance presented to him when his side were 1-0 up, but Derry refused to criticise his player and was keen to focus on the positives.
“The difference is they took their chance when it came, but Stephen’s been brilliant,” he added. “At 1-0 up you get that chance and you want to put it away, we all wanted him to put it away but it just didn’t happen. But we dug in and we held on and I would have taken a point before we came here.”
Having spent time at Sheffield United during his playing career, Derry spoke fondly of our opponents on the night, but also felt that his side showed that they are a match for anyone in the division at present.
“This club holds fond memories from throughout my career and I’ll always be indebted to them because they were the ones that gave me the chance at Championship level,” said the Notts Manager.
“This is a proper major football club, not just in League 1, but in the Championship, so to come here and keep it at 1-1 is an unbelievable result for us. I could be here for hours saying what they’ve got and what we haven’t but what we had tonight was spirit, absolute spirit in abundance.”
Subscribers can watch the post-match interview with Shaun Derry in full on Magpie Player.