Furious Steve makes a point
DARREN BENT revealed he has “never seen Steve McClaren so angry” during the half-time rant which inspired Derby’s brilliant comeback.
The Rams were trailing City 3-0 at the break after a woeful first-half performance. But Bent scored twice, including a penalty, while Tom Ince grabbed a rare headed goal as they came back to snatch a point.
Bent said: “I can’t repeat everything the manager said at half-time but he wasn’t happy.
“It was the angriest I’ve ever seen Steve; he never, ever loses his rag like that. He was fuming about our first-half performance, as he should be, because we didn’t play well enough.
“In fairness we were more annoyed at ourselves for putting ourselves in that situation. We battled in the second half and got the goals.
“But we need to cut out these slow starts.
DERBY BRISTOL CITY
We don’t know why it happens but we’re one of the better sides in the division and if we want to get promoted we can’t have slow starts. If you play against the top teams and you go 3-0 down you don’t come back.”
Matty Taylor gave City the lead in his first start for them but was guilty of a horrible miss at 3-1 that would have sealed the win.
Tammy Abraham’s two goals took him past 20 for the campaign.
Taylor said: “The whole team is gutted, not just for ourselves but for the fans. We played so well in the first half, got ourselves in a great position, but we threw it away in the second half.
“It’s great to get my first goal, but it is about getting results. There’s no point scoring every week and losing every week.”