Derby County have booked their place in the play-off final after beating Leeds United.
Chelsea loanee Mason Mount has revealed that Derby County realised at half-time that Leeds United were ‘losing confidence’ during their play-off semi-final encounter and they had to take advantage of that.
The Rams did just that because Mount scored within seconds of the restart as Leeds capitulated in front of their own supporters which saw them crash out in the race to reach the Premier League.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side went into the game with a one-goal advantage and that was doubled early in the first half. But from then on, everything went downhill for the Yorkshire outfit.
Speaking to Sky Sports Football (15/05/2019) straight after the final whistle, Mount shared that Derby knew that they just had to keep going in order to progress.
On the message at half-time: “The message was keep going,” Mount told Sky Sports Football. “We come in at half-time and were on top. We felt that we were on top. We felt that they were losing confidence. We came out in the second half and thought we could bounce on that [momentum] and we did.”
It was some performance from Frank Lampard’s side and the Premier League legend has done a remarkable job in his first season as a manager.
Last season, Derby were beaten in the play-off semi-finals to Fulham, who have since been relegated back to the second tier, but they have now gone one better.
But it isn’t over yet because they will want to reach the Premier League as Midland giants Aston Villa stand in their way of glory.
Both teams will meet in the final at Wembley later on this month in what will no doubt be a highly-charged and nervy fixture for both teams.
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