Derby County boss delivers big Sunderland compliment in verdict on what went wrong for his side

Derby County boss Paul Warne said his side weren't good enough in possession at the Stadium of Light but praised a 'top-two' performance from Sunderland.

The Rams started brightly but began to concede more chances as the half went on and fell behind to a stunning strike from Jobe Bellingham. Wilson Isidor double Sunderland's advantage shortly after the break and though the visitors applied pressure late on, they were unable to set up a grandstand finish.

"I didn't think we were very good first half," he said.

"Out of possession we were OK, in possession we weren't very good and Sunderland were better than us. The 30-yard screamer that nearly took the net off was disappointing, we've given the ball away in our own half which is disappointing. Mistakes happen in games and we got truly punished. After the second goal we were really good, and if we got a goal when it was bouncing around the six-yard box a couple of times... we changed our shape and I thought we were in the ascendancy a bit and our substitutions had a really good effect. In fairness to Sunderland, they defended what they had to well. There's some good things in our play but obviously things we need to work on.

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"They're a young side playing really well, full of confidence. Someone cracking one in from 30-yards is a fitting way to win any game. That's where we want to be, in the top six, and in fairness it was a top-two performance from them. They kept the ball, were strong, made good decisions and were clinical in the final third. I can't knock the lads for their effort, we changed the shape and limited them, and we started the game really well. Unfortunately we couldn't maintain that, I gave a few debuts to a few players tonight and maybe they were a little bit rusty. I still leave really proud of some of the things we did but we it's disappointing not to come away with anything."

Derby are back in action at home to QPR on Saturday afternoon.