Jewell joy at Derby pride

Rams boss beams at display; Roeder defends keeper

Last updated: 4th October 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Jewell joy at Derby pride

Jewell: All smiles

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Derby County boss Paul Jewell praised the character of his side after they battled on with 10 men to claim a 2-1 triumph against Norwich City.

The Rams extended their unbeaten run to six matches when Nathan Ellington struck the winner at Carrow Road with five minutes remaining.

Goalkeeper Roy Carroll had been dismissed in the 50th minute for a foul on Leroy Lita, and Jewell was proud with the response of his players after Norwich's Sammy Clingan dispatched the resultant penalty to restore parity.

"We showed the sort of character that was sadly lacking last season," said Jewell.

"If we'd conceded a penalty and gone down to 10 men then we would probably have folded like a pack of cards.

"But full credit to the lads, they showed great determination and great fitness levels as well after the sending-off.

"I don't think Stephen Bywater (Derby's substitute goalkeeper) had a single shot to make.

"Without playing the greatest football we are now proving resilient and extremely difficult to beat.

"To be fair it was probably a good time to play Norwich because they had to go into the game without a recognised centre-half."

Canaries reaction

Meanwhile, Norwich boss Glenn Roeder defended goalkeeper David Marshall following his error leading up to Ellington's decisive strike.

Roeder said: "Today he has made his first mistake of the season and got punished for it. Sometimes as a keeper you get away with things like that but they have taken advantage of it and obviously it's cost us the game.

"Adam Drury had things covered and there was no need for David to come out but, as I said, he has been excellent for us so far this season.

"The most annoying thing for me was the way we dropped our pace of play in the second half.

"We had them under real pressure after we'd equalised then we started slowing it down and it made us much easier for their 10 men to play against."