"We can't cry about it" - Paul Warne reacts to late Derby County defeat v Luton Town | OneFootball

The Rams were beaten by two late goals at Kenilworth Road after Kayden Jackson had given them a second-half lead.

Paul Warne has reacted to Derby County's heartbreaking late defeat to Luton Town on Friday evening, with the Hatters turning the game around in the final few minutes to take all three points.

After a poor first half, the Rams came out of the break looking the much better side, and they carried a strong threat throughout. They were eventually rewarded for their pressure with the opening goal, as Kayden Jackson headed home from an excellent Kane Wilson cross.

Despite looking in control, Luton threatened the visitors in the final moments, bringing on attacking reinforcements that forced Derby back. The pressure eventually forced a goal, with Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu firing a volley towards goal. It deflected off Tom Holmes to hand the home side the equaliser before Carlton Morris won the game in the 92nd minute in dramatic circumstances.

Warne reacts to late defeat v Luton

It was an incredibly disappointing night for the Rams, who looked as though they were heading for just their second away win of the season before those two goals just before the final whistle.

While they had not dominated, it was Derby who looked the more threatening side throughout, and they had deservedly given themselves the lead.

Paul Warne explained in his post-match interview just how much the defeat hurt, but expressed his pride in his team.

"I am obviously pretty raw and I congratulate Rob and his team. That was the pain of football management but weirdly I was really proud of the performance against a really good team," he started.

"In the end, we lose the game through randomness. They brought on some big names up front. The game just turned into a school match in the last five minutes, and unfortunately, what could go wrong did go wrong.

"They were two deflected goals, although Jacob made a great save in fairness. In the first half, it was up there with one of the worst games I've seen, but the second half was good."

Warne continued: "Three points might have flattered us, I don't know. A point didn't. It stings a lot. But it's Christmas. We'll get the lads in about 10 hours, tell a few jokes and we'll just go again. That's what football is. We can't cry about it. We'll see what we can learn. We weren't getting ripped apart, but we had to make changes when we did because of fatigue and potential injuries."

Derby must find that second goal in games more often

While the performance perhaps warranted three points, it was another match where the Rams denied themselves victory by failing to score more than once.

Last Friday, they were exceptional and clinical against Portsmouth, but as has been the case too often already since they returned to the Championship, they were punished for holding onto a slender lead.

Derby have now lost 13 points from winning positions, and it is something that will start to become a slight frustration of Warne's, and with games against West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United coming up, there will be worries that another poor run could happen once again.

The East Midlands side have won just three matches in 17 now, and alarm bells will start to be ringing once again. However, there are positive signs, and Warne will see the improvements that his team have made over the last few weeks, but they have to make sure that they start putting their opponents to the sword more often and ensuring that they finish games with more control.