Speaking after our 2-1 defeat away to Derby County on Saturday, Mads Andersen felt the Reds deserved a positive result for their endeavours.
Two goals in the first half for the home side were enough to seal victory for the Rams, despite a Josh Benson goal just after the hour-mark inspiring a Reds comeback.
During the interval, Michael Duff made some tactical changes which helped the Reds assert control over the affair and better challenge Derby's backline. Andersen thought the side's work off of the ball was much improved after the restart.
"Our press, we improved our press," the skipper revealed. "They couldn't get out of it. We just needed to score a goal or two."
The game was played on a sweltering Saturday afternoon in the East Midlands, forcing a water break midway through each half.
The conditions could very easily be the source of either side's problems, but our Danish centre-half believes there are no excuses on this front.
"Yeah, it was warm," he said. "But, that was for everybody on the pitch. So, there's no excuse for that.
"Everyone worked really hard. I think we deserved more, it was a good performance from the lads.
"Of course, we don't have to concede two easy goals but I think there's a lot of good stuff we can take from this game."
The Reds almost got something out of the game in the second half, pushing the Rams right until the last kick of the game.
This was demonstrated on Wednesday night at Middlesbrough in cup action, as Benson was on hand to side-foot home in the dying moments after a dogged 90 minutes on Teesside. This spirit is building in the camp, according to Andersen.
"Yes, definitely," nodded the Dane. "Even the guys coming in, they did a good job. Working hard, so that was good to see."
Andersen finished by praising the 1,400 fans who travelled to Pride Park on Saturday, and their support was well-received by the squad.
"Yeah, great support," he smiled.
"We could hear them, especially in the second half when we played down at that end and they were cheering for us, so thank you for that."
