Paul Warne delighted with winning start to life at Derby

Paul Warne declared himself “really pleased” after tasting victory in his first game as Derby boss with a 2-0 win at Cambridge.

James Collins scored in each half as Warne’s side recorded their first away win of the League One season

The result left the Rams only three points outside the play-off places as Warne looks to deliver an immediate return to the Championship.

“We made the point before the game that these three points were as important as the last game of the season,” said Warne.

“We need to win games. Hopefully that will set the lads in good stead for the next games to come.

“I begged the lads to press, you’ve got to press and run, and they did. What gave me the greatest joy was our first goal came from the fact our centre-forward chased down a bad pass, obviously it’s an error, goal.

“It’s not easy playing for us, we want the lads to run hard and press hard. To get through the week they’ve got through, everyone’s made us so welcome, all the staff behind the scenes have been brilliant. To finish with a win will give the place a real boost.

“We haven’t come in and reinvented the wheel. Liam (Rosenior) has done brilliantly with this team. It’s a really good assembled team if we can keep them fit and healthy, and we just try and add a little bit that we like.

“All in all, a clean sheet away from home, two goals, we could have scored more, I’m really, really pleased.”

Cambridge boss Mark Bonner praised the quality of the Derby side and urged his team to learn from their defeat.

He said: “We can’t get too downhearted when you lose against a team that’s as strong as them, full of as many strong players as them, because, whilst we have an ambition to be competitive in these games and see how many points we can get, we also have a realism about us.

“That isn’t being pessimistic, it isn’t going into a game not thinking we can win, because we think we can beat everyone and compete with anyone, but at the same time we have to respect the fact that there’s a different level of player out there on their team.

“These are the games I think you can learn lots from, individually and as a team, and hopefully we can pick bits up that can serve you well for the season.”