Derby County: How ‘calm’ Eustace got the result he needed to carry on

Boos were last thing Eustace and his players had heard when they headed down the tunnel on the way to the dressing room at the break.

In that moment, having just gone behind to a Ruben Rodrigues goal, the Rams boss admitted they could “quite easily gone under”.

Despite Eustace’s future at Derby apparently depending on what he did next, he dismissed the notion afterwards that his team talk and half-time tweaks were a last-ditch effort to save his job.

“It certainly wasn’t the last throw of the dice, I probably did that one about five or six games ago,” he said with a laugh.

“We changed our shape, because it needed to be changed and I felt that we could hurt them on the transitions, and I was quite excited about the second half.

“I was just delighted for the boys really.”

While it is the first time in Eustace’s 21-month tenure as Derby boss that he finds himself in a position where he needs results to ensure he stays in charge, he likened the feeling he got from the victory against Bolton to those when overseeing the club’s miraculous relegation escape when he took charge in the final months of the 2024-25 season.

“Keep calm and carry on” was the mantra that he relied on then as they avoided the drop on the final day – an escape that paved the way for their challenge for a play-off place last season.

When asked about that iconic phrase, which was first used on World War II posters, Eustace said: “That’s the way I work.

“This past 15 games has been very challenging, for lots of different reasons, and it was important that I keep believing in what I do and keep believing in the group.

“You can listen to all the outside noise, and listen to what people will do or what I should do, but ultimately I’m in control of the group that I’ve got. I’ve been very calm and what will be will be.

“Tonight’s performance felt like when I first came in, when we were seven points off, staying up with 11 games to go, and you know we found a way.

“So let’s certainly not get carried away, but let’s be really proud of the group. It’s going to be a long season there’s going to be some really difficult times, but when you can perform and fight like we did tonight hopefully that’ll be enough to keep moving us in the right direction.”