SKIPPER Richard Keogh feels Derby County may need to learn when to curb their attacking instincts after the Rams were pegged back by Birmingham City.
Steve McClaren's men appeared to be cruising to victory at St Andrew's on Saturday, leading 3-1 with only 12 minutes remaining.
But Birmingham found a way back into the match and then snatched a 3-3 draw in the dying moments.
"We didn't see that coming," said central defender Keogh.
"We were in control of the game. I thought we were the better team but to be fair to Birmingham, they kept going.
"I thought we looked pretty comfortable and dealt with most things that came our way.
"But maybe that lack of experience to see out games cost us in the end.
"We knew it would be a tricky game but we played the better football and should have seen the game out."
Derby were the better side in the first half but it ended goalless after Craig Bryson's penalty was saved by Darren Randolph.
Brian Howard headed Birmingham into the lead against the run of play soon after the interval.
But the Rams hit straight back through Patrick Bamford's fourth goal in as many games.
The visitors went ahead through a somewhat fortuitous strike from Bryson before Craig Forsyth added a third – his first goal for the club.
That should have been it but in the 78th minute, Chris Burke pulled one back for the Blues after a Derby attack had broken down.
McClaren's side still might have made the game safe, only for debutant Federico Macheda to equalise in the third minute of stoppage time.
"I think we need to know, as a team, when we are in control of a game," said Keogh.
"When we are very comfortable, we perhaps don't need to be as attack-minded as we are.
"I know it's hard because we are an attacking team and score a lot of goals.
"But we've got to 'grow up' as a team and individuals and get that little bit more experience to see out games."
Derby are the Championship's leading scorers with 57 goals in 29 League fixtures but have conceded 40 – more than any other team in the top half of the table.
"Sometimes, we are going to outscore teams, pure and simple," said Keogh.
"But I think on this occasion, we probably should have recognised that we were in control and, at 3-1 up, we couldn't really see them scoring.
"We gave them an opportunity to get back into the game.
"That's something we've got to learn from and I'm sure we will.
"And when we're in a similar situation in the future, we need to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Last Tuesday night, Derby battled back from two goals down to claim a last-gasp victory at home to Yeovil Town.
Emotions were very different at Birmingham as the Rams suffered late disappointment this time.
"We're obviously very disappointed and it did feel a bit like a defeat in the end," said Keogh.
"But I think that shows how far we've come, to have gone to a place like Birmingham and been comfortably the better team.
"It's good that we get down about it but we've got to make sure the next time we're in that situation, we see it out."
Derby would have climbed a place to third in the table had they hung on at St Andrew's but Keogh remains upbeat.
"This was a good opportunity for us to close down the gap," he said.
"Unfortunately, we didn't take it – but there were a lot of positives for us to take.
"We scored three good goals and we're still unbeaten in the last four games."
