RAMS HAVE TO REVIVE – RUSSELL
A DEJECTED Johnny Russell hopes Derby County have not blown their chances of another promotion charge towards the Premier League next season.
For the second time in three seasons, they failed in the play-offs, while last term an endof-season capitulation, which saw two wins from their last 13 games, dropped them from automatic promotion certainties to a point short of the top six.
A 3-0 home defeat to Hull City on Saturday required them to make play-off history to reach Wembley Stadium.
Though they led 2-0 at the break in Tuesday’s second leg, with Russell scoring the opener, Derby once again fell short.
“We know it’s another year wasted,” said the 26-year-old forward.
“When you look around the dressing room at the players we have, there’s no two ways about it.
“It’s another year wasted and you don’t know how many chances you are going to get at this. It’s difficult to take.
“Next year has to be our time.
“We can’t have the squad that we’ve got, trying and failing.We can’t keep doing that. You can’t keep saying ‘next year’.
“We, as a group, really need to do this.
“We know we lost the tie on Saturday.You can’t legislate for that performance we put in.We gave ourselves an absolute mountain to climb.We came close, but it wasn’t to be.
“We came back fighting. That was a given.We shouldn’t have been in that position, though.We let ourselves and ever yone else down on Saturday.”
Despite the disappointment, Tuesday’s performance went some way to helping Derby shake off the ‘chokers’ tag.
Trailing by three at kick-off, that deficit was down to one at half-time and they certainly looked the more likely to score after the break.
Russell could at least acknowledge that Derby left the KC Stadium with their heads held high, even if the same cannot be said for the first leg at the iPro Stadium.
“At Hull, we put in a performance we are capable of and should be doing every week,” he said. “But, when you have to follow up a game like Saturday’s, you don’t leave yourself much chance.
“Getting the second goal in the first half meant we came in the changing room at halftime and we believed.
“Before the game we believed, but we knew it would be difficult. At half-time we really felt we could turn it around, but it wasn’t to be.We couldn’t get a third.
“If we had, I think we’d have got a fourth as well.”