Hourihane gutted as Rams miss out on play-offs

AFTER missing out on a League One play-off spot, Conor Hourihane admits Derby County threw it away ‘a little bit’.

Derby started the final weekend of the season in the play-off spots, but their 1-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday coupled with Peterborough United’s 2-0 win at Barnsley saw Peterborough pip Derby to sixth place, and the final play-off position.

The Rams finished in seventh place after 46 games, just one point behind Peterborough, who progressed into the play-offs with Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and Bolton.

‘I think we have done okay in patches but, if I am being brutally honest, we’ve thrown it away a little bit over the course of the last few months,’ Bandon man Hourihane opined after the loss to Wednesday. 

‘We’ve had a good few opportunities to cement a play-off place and it ended up going down to today. It wasn’t to be. 

‘I think there are some fond memories from this season, because we’ve made some steps forward after signing last summer as part of the rebuild, but we’ve not made the big step that we wanted to. It is building blocks at least.’

One goal decided Derby’s game away to Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season – Michael Smith scoring from the penalty spot while Derby captain Curtis Davies was red-carded for the foul that led to the spot kick.

‘It is very disappointing,’ Hourihane said. 

‘We felt we were playing really well up until the penalty and red card and I haven’t seen it back. It is hugely, hugely disappointing. 

‘It was hard enough coming here without going a man down and we weren’t able to get the job done today. There’s a feeling of disappointment in the dressing room and not much has been said; everyone is quite quiet as you can imagine.’

Hourihane enjoyed an impressive first campaign in the Derby County midfield and was recently named in the League One team of the season.