John Eustace shares Ryan Nyambe injury update and half time message to Derby County players

John Eustace has confirmed that Derby County defender Ryan Nyambe has suffered another hamstring injury and scans on Thursday are set to determine how severe the latest setback will be.

Nyambe, recalled to the starting XI for the 2-0 victory over Preston North End at Pride Park on Wednesday, pulled up inside four minutes after looking to atone for an error which had led to an opportunity for the visitors to open the scoring.

It was immediately clear Nyambe wasn't in a position to continue and he was instantly replaced by Kane Wilson, who he had displaced in the starting XI in the first place. Nyambe didn't play between October and January because of a knee injury, but he had since returned ahead of schedule.

"It's a shame for Ryan," Eustace said. "He's had a bad time with injuries since we've come in. He's trained really well for the last couple of weeks, looked sharp coming into the game, so losing him after two minutes is a big blow. We'll have to see how he is tomorrow after the scan. It's his hamstring, so hopefully it won't be as bad as we think, but we wait and see."

Despite the early setback, the Rams proceeded to post a fourth straight success - with three Pride Park wins on the spin - against the Lilywhites; after a low-key first half, Derby hit their visitors with quick-fire goals from Craig Forsyth and Jerry Yates in the space of four second half minutes.

It was such a change in approach so early into the second half, but Eustace reasoned that he didn't dramatically alter his side's set-up all too much at the half-time interval, instead instructing his players to retain possession better in order to hurt their visitors in the final third.

"We just kept to the game-plan," he added. "The first 20 minutes, you have to remember we haven't played for two and a half weeks. We looked a little nervous, and Preston had a lot of possession, but they didn't hurt us at all.

"We grew into the game, but in the first half when we won the ball back we had to be better in the final third. We kept giving the ball back to them. I was confident going in at half time that, if we kept to the game-plan, the second half would open up like it did.

"They had a huge game on Sunday. Preston are a really solid, good Championship team and it was going to be really tight, but that second half I thought we'd create opportunities from especially set-pieces.

"It was important then that, when we won the ball back, it was important in the transition and turnover, we kept the ball better. That's all I said at half time. We did, and we got high up the pitch, we got throw-ins, corners and the work the group and staff are putting in at the moment is there for everyone to see."