Derby County Football Club News

• Nickname:The Rams
• Founded:1884
• Manager:Nigel Clough

• Ground:Pride Park
• Capacity:33,597

Jewell admits Rams gamble

13 Jan 2008 - 10:27:07

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Derby County boss Paul Jewell admitted his gamble backfired after losing 1-0 to Wigan Athletic in a crunch relegation showdown at Pride Park.

Jewell handed debuts to four new players in a new-look side, but the result was a depressingly familiar one for the Premier League's bottom club, who have now already lost 17 games this season.

New signings Robbie Savage, Emanuel Villa, Laurent Robert and Hossam Ghaly all made their debuts for the relegation-haunted side, who also saw defender Claude Davis sent off early in the second half.

"It was a very disappointing result. We threw in four new players but the gamble didn't pay off, there's no doubt about it," Jewell told the club's official website.

"It was always going to be difficult when we were down to ten men because we didn't look like scoring with eleven.

"We had to bring the players in even though we knew that some of them hadn't played for a while.

"It is a risk but at this stage of the season we have to take risks.

"Draws are no good to us, we need ten wins really and we tried today but we just weren't good enough."