'It hurts' - how Hull City, Cardiff and Derby County's relegation rivals are dealing with pressure

Try as they did Derby County could not find a way past Luton Town's massed defence and ended up losing their Championship relegation battle 1-0 in front of their own fans.

The result leaves the Rams outside the bottom three on goal difference alone, with three matches to play. Thankfully for them their other rivals all slipped up and John Eustace's men still have their destiny in their own hands.

Which is just as well because the pressure is mounting at the bottom of the table, here DerbyshireLive looks at what the Rams and their rivals are saying about their respective plights.

20th Hull City – 45 points

Ruben Selles told HullLive after their 1-0 loss at Swansea City

"No, we were not good in the first half," Selles admitted when asked why his side were so poor. "I think we got trapped by the pressure that they put on us. They were really good in that pressure and we didn't find the moment either to combine or just to go in behind and then try to attack those spaces.

"Maybe we were not clear enough with the message, but we ended up trying to overplay the situation when we probably should have gone a little bit further forward and been clear in the spaces that we wanted to be.

"I don't think we were good offensively. I think we defended our goal pretty well in the first half. We didn't concede a lot of situations more than the free-kick on the side and a couple of actions when the ball was in and around our box."

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21st Derby County – 43 points

John Eustace told Derbyshirelive after the 1-0 home defeat to Luton Town: “I’m disappointed to lose the game and we looked a little bit anxious at the beginning. We didn’t get on the front foot.

“In the second, I couldn’t fault them. We had a full house behind us and we changed a few things during the interval, making slight changes in midfield and further forward.

“We just told the lads to forget about everything and not worry about the situation. Just to go out there and play their game. They did that and, genuinely, I couldn’t fault their attitude at all.

“Listen, goals change games and we had some opportunities. We have spoken about the need to be more clinical in the final third and, at times of late, we have been. It’s just about getting that consistency.

“It was an opportunity for us to get three important points and obviously we didn’t. So there was a lot of disappointment in the dressing room. But we’ve got an opportunity in the next game to do that and so we’ve got to get straight back to it.”

22nd Luton Town – 43 points

Matt Bloomfield was delighted as Luton won 1-0 at Pride Park.

He said: “Our results have been very good away from home. We knew this was going to be a tough game here but we knew we could win.

“In the first half, I thought we were excellent and played so well. In the second, we had to weather the storm a bit but we did that to a man. I thought we defended incredibly when we needed it.

“We didn’t actually ask for anything other than a performance today. If you put in match-winning performances then the victories are surely going to follow. But nothing is done yet. We are in there fighting and we have given ourselves a chance.

“I keep getting asked when the picture at the bottom will get sorted and I don’t know. It could go right down to the wire and I think it probably will.”

23rd Cardiff City – 43 points

Omer Riza watched as his side were beaten 2-0 at Sheffield United - and was then sacked and replaced by Aaron Ramsey.

But before he was axed, Riza said of his final game: “We were unlucky. I thought there were moments in the game when we looked good going forward and we played quite well.

“Sheffield United are a very strong team and I thought we contained them well at times with our structure and they didn’t cause us loads of issues.

“We always knew it was going to be a tough game out of possession and I thought we managed it quite well. In the second half we tried to take the game to them and we had a lot of the ball.

“We probably didn’t quite cause them enough problems going forward. Our moments needed to be cleaner and more decisive.

“United’s first goal took the momentum away when we still felt we could try to get something from the game and then the second goal comes from a little error and the game is done.

“If you look at the performance today, we’ve come away to a team who are fighting for promotion and there’s not much in the game.

“We tried to create and score but we couldn’t quite do it. If we approach the Oxford game just as we approached the game today I feel we can get something out of it."

Sadly, that is no longer Riza's concern.

24th Plymouth Argyle – 40 points

Mirun Muslic saw his side concede a late winner to lose 2-1 at Middlesbrough. “It feels heavy right now,” said Muslic. “I think the lads played a brilliant game. Everything we prepared before, we delivered. We knew the quality of Middlesbrough, they are very strong in possession and very strong offensively.

“We dealt with them very well and created so many goalscoring opportunities. We had five or six big ones and that just shows how well we did. Losing this game, and losing this point with such a late penalty, it hurts.”

Who is finishing in the bottom three? Have your say here