CONOR Sammon's attitude and response to being left out of Derby County's team at Charlton was just what manager Nigel Clough wanted to see.
Sammon's run of 15 consecutive starts came to an end when the £1.2m striker was named among the substitutes for Saturday's Championship clash.
He replaced Nathan Tyson after 65 minutes and his display in the 1-1 draw pleased his manager.
"When you drop players, they get disappointed and the last thing we need is players sulking but Conor's not like that," said Clough.
"He wasn't dropped, he was given a rest.
"He had to have a rest at some point because he works so hard and I thought this was a good chance but, once again, he showed when he came on for 20 minutes that he is a handful.
"He could have got himself a goal and he could have forced a goal in other ways."
Clough made four changes to the team who lost at Burnley on Boxing Day.
Tyson, Theo Robinson, Ben Davies and James O'Connor came in for Sammon, Craig Bryson, Michael Jacobs and Mark O'Brien.
Tyson and Robinson played up front, Davies was on the left side of midfield in what was his first start of the season and O'Connor started at centre-back, although he played at right-back in the second half when John Brayford moved to centre-half.
"We wanted to freshen things up after a lot of effort went into the game against Hull and Burnley," said Clough.
"Injuries dictated two of the changes with Craig Bryson (knee) ruled out and Mark O'Brien (groin), who wasn't quite ready.
"Conditions also affected the team selection.
"We thought Nathan and Theo up front might suit us. We thought they might offer us some real pace and put Charlton on the back foot, which they did, but we couldn't take our chances.
"Neither scored but they both had chances.
"Supporters have been saying give Nathan and Theo a chance. Well, they had enough chances in the first 20 minutes to score a couple each.
"We looked a bit more solid with Ben Davies on the left-hand side. He did very well on his first start of the season, which shows the value of having players like him in and around the squad.
"Conor Sammon and Michael Jacobs made an impact when they came off the bench too, which was a huge positive for us and showed the great attitude they both have.
"We probably didn't play our passing game as we have been doing but I thought we got a good balance."
