ACADEMY manager Darren Wassall praised his Derby County team for their positive reaction in the second half of last night's FA Youth Cup victory over Wigan Athletic at the iPro Stadium.
Derby dominated the first half and led through Kurtis Revan's goal only to be pegged back by Wigan on the stroke of half-time.
But three quick-fire goals after the break put the Rams in control again and a 4-3 win saw them progress to the fourth round.
"At half-time, we told the lads not to let their heads drop and start the second half well, and they did," said Wassall.
"When you concede just before half-time the opposition is on a high and you are on a low, and particularly after we had dominated the first half.
"So we were delighted with the way the team went out in the second half and created the chances they did and scored the goals they did to go 4-1 up."
Wigan pulled two goals back late on.
"Unfortunately, if you switch off defensively you get punished," said Wassall.
"It should have been a comfortable victory after we went 4-1 up.
"We were creating chances to go five and six, and should have been able to see the game out a little bit better than we did but we created a few nervous moments for ourselves by conceding two sloppy goals.
"That put a little bit of a dampener on the game but overall it was a thoroughly deserved victory."
