Eustace responds to defeat amid fresh injury blow and Cashin absence explained

John Eustace felt a lack of cutting edge was crucial as Derby County were beaten by title-favourites West Ham United at the London Stadium.

Nuno Espirito Santo's side secured a 3-0 victory to make it back-to-back wins as they start to show why they are many people's choice to win the Championship. Derby had fallen behind early on when Joel Piroe headed in after seven minutes as Jacob Widell Zetterstrom made a superb save to deny Konstantinos Mavropanos.

In the second half, Derby grew in confidence, but did not register a shot on target although Lars-Jorgen Salvesen went close with a free-kick. West Ham then wrapped up the victory late on as Derby pushed for an equaliser with Edvin Austbo and Mohamadou Kanté sealing all three points.

Reflecting on the game, Eustace said he just felt his team struggled with the last action in the final third after some promising moments.

"After a slow start, I thought we grew into the game really well," he said. "Coming into half-time, I always felt we'd get opportunities and I was hoping with the positive changes that, as the second half went on, we'd have more of an impact.

"I am disappointed that we didn't really create any clear-cut chances, but I think there was a lot in that second half we can take away for sure. Obviously the two late goals were really disappointing and it certainly flattered them a little bit.

"We wanted to impose ourselves more than what we wanted in the first half, of course we did. I think after the first 20 minutes we certainly had some good moments, some good times with the ball, but just lacked that little bit of belief and quality we spoke about at half-time in terms of really believing that we could come here and get something out of the game.

"We showed some real good signs of that second half, but just lacked that little bit of a cutting edge at the end."

Derby handed a debut to striker Henrik Meister following his loan move from Pisa while David Ozoh also featured after coming on as a substitute in the first half for Rhian Brewster who suffered a blow to the head. Mohammed Fuseini also showed lightning pace when he also came off the bench having joined on Tuesday night from Union Saint-Gilloise.

But Ozoh, a £4m signing from Crystal Palace on deadline day, instantly showed why Derby were so keen to land him and Eustace said: "I thought he was top drawer, that's why we brought him to the club. He's a top player. David was excellent today."

There was no place in the squad for Eiran Cashin who has rejoined the club on a season-long loan and Eustace explained there are also injuries to Filip Bilbija while Bobby Clark, who started on the bench, is also struggling.

"Bobby had a slight scare after the game on Tuesday, so that's why he was on the bench today and he's been really struggling with his hamstrings. We were lucky to get him on for 20 minutes.

"Eiran's struggling a little bit with his ankle. I think he's missed the last couple of weeks at Brighton, so hopefully he'll be joining in at some point this week. Filip also has a back injury unfortunately.

"He's just struggling a little bit again, just adapting to training methods and adapting to the Championship. When you're signing players who aren't used to the level or used to the league, it takes a little bit of time to get to grips with it."

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