Everton and Sheffield United starlets catch eye with ex-Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest man as Derby County flex muscle ahead of Portsmouth visit

Paul Warne rang the changes with five switches from the Rams’ weekend success over MK Dons - but saw his men cruise to a 5-0 success.

The shuffling of his Derby pack had no negative impact on his side’s fluency as they raced into a 2-0 lead in 15 minutes, thanks to a Mark Ellis own goal and fine 20-yard finish from Sheffield United loanee William Osula.

Torquay responded well, but were then caught on the counter with Liam Thompson applying the finish to a flowing move seven minutes before the break.

Everton’s Lewis Dobbin then lit up the clash with a scorching 25-yard second-half volley, which will go down as one of the goals of this season’s competition.

Veteran former Ipswich and Nottingham Forest striker David McGoldrick rounded off the win with 11 minutes left, with a finish which capped a classy showing.

Despite the result, Derby boss Paul Warne proved a hard taskmaster and felt there was a lot of room for improvement for his team ahead of Pompey.

He told the BBC: ‘There was some good bits of our play and frustrating bits of our play.

‘I made a load of changes because we’ve got five games in 12 days and we’ve travelled the world, a bit Phileas Fogg.

‘We played Liverpool last week and we were underdogs. It was a case of staying in the game and thinking we’d get a chance.

‘To be fair to Torquay they did get chances and we threw bodies in the way - at 2-0 it easily could have become 2-1 and turned around.

‘My frustration as a manager is when you let the opposition get free holds in the game like throw-ins.

‘They are the frustrating things for me, so you have to stay on top of them.

‘There were bits where our passing looked excellent and so it should, but there were stages where we were disappointing.

‘We’re pleased but I knew they would come up at us.’

Derby are in ominous form ahead of Friday’s clash, as they find fluency under Warne,

Their only defeat in the last seven was on penalties to Liverpool, after a 0-0 draw at Anfield in the Carabao Cup last week.

Young midflelder Jason Knight is out of the Pompey clash along with defenders Curtis Davies and James Chester, but midfielder Tom Barkhuizen could be back after being sidelined.