Nico Yennaris returned to the First Team for the first time in more than two months at Derby County following his only appearance of the season against Oxford United in the Capital One Cup. The defender slotted in at right-back following Alan McCormack’s one match suspension for the match due to picking up five cautions this season.

The 22-year-old gave his verdict on the 2-0 defeat at The iPro Stadium.

“I thought for the first 15, 20 minutes we didn’t start the game very well,” said Nico. “We were a bit slow to start but we grew into the game and obviously the first goal knocked us back a bit.

“For the two goals we could do better all over the pitch to not concede them but I thought second half we showed a bit of character, a bit of fight to get ourselves back in the game but we didn’t roll over and just let them play. We dug in in the end and tried to get back in the game.”

Nico was pleased to be back in action after injury and non-selection so far this season.

“I’ve been in and around the squad some games and some not but that’s football,” said Nico. “I was happy to get a start today and hopefully I can push on from there. It was the first time playing with some players in a proper game so it may take a little bit of time to get a better understanding with a few players but I thought I did alright.

“Hopefully I’ve done enough today to show that I can keep my place in the team and push on from here.”

You can view the entire interview with Nico on Bees PlayerHD below: