John Eustace insists Derby players sparked second-half fightback

Derby boss John Eustace handed all the praise to his group of players after they came from behind to earn their first home victory of the season with a 3-1 win over Bolton.

Derby were heading for a third straight defeat when Ruben Rodrigues notched his second goal of the season to give the Trotters a half-time lead.

Pride Park booed the players off and then back on to the field after the break, which clearly had an effect when Ryan Nyambe equalised with his first goal in over 300 career appearances just 39 seconds after the break.

Jack Robinson put the hosts in front three minutes later before Rhian Brewster sealed a first win since September with his first of the season in stoppage time.

Eustace says a half-time team talk between the players helped shift the tide in the second period.

He said: “It’s not about me, it’s about the group of players and I’m so pleased for them. The players have worked their socks off without any reward and then last two games we let ourselves down.

“Just very proud of the effort of the group. Outstanding, especially in that second half. We could have quite easily gone under, conceding just before the break.

“Things haven’t been ideal but the way the group spoke was very pleasing for me.

“The boys were just disappointed we switched off on 40 minutes. They really kept the group positive, it’s never going to be pretty from where we are in the league.

“Confidence is low so we have to find a way at the moment.”

The pressure was mounting on Eustace, who was staring down the barrel of a fifth defeat from their last six at the break.

Asked whether he thought half-time was his last throw of the dice to keep his job, he disagreed.

Eustace added: “We can’t get carried away but we can be proud. It’s going to be a long season and there will be difficult times.

“I certainly let them know my thoughts (at half-time). They came in and took charge then I stepped in and did my bit.

“It definitely wasn’t a last chance of the dice. I probably did that one about five or six games ago now.”

Bolton boss Steven Schumacher says his side need to stop throwing points away from winning positions after twice being pegged back to lose in the space of six days.

Schumacher said: “We have to really have a look at things.

“We played so well and thought we should have had more of a cushion. When that’s the case you always expect a reaction and you can’t give them a lifeline which we did.

“It happened on Saturday against Bristol City – 2-1 up, should have been out of sight and they win it. It can’t keep happening.

“It hurts, it stings. We can’t be complacent in this league, we’ve got the second-lowest budget, spent the lowest on transfers, so there is no room for us to be complacent.”

“We switched off and got punished.”