Derby County came up short against Aston Villa yesterday, with Frank Lampard's side losing 2-1 in the play-off final.

It was always going to be a tough ask to beat a very talented Villa side, however it's fair to say the manager didn't help himself with his team selection.

The decision to leave Jack Marriott on the bench raised eyebrows after the striker came on to devastating effect in the semi-final, scoring twice against Leeds at Elland Road from the bench to book the Rams place at Wembley.

Even though he hadn't been a regular towards the end of the season, Marriott would've hoped such an impressive display would warrant a start against Villa.

Instead, Lampard opted to go with Mason Bennett up top and whilst he works hard for the team, he simply doesn't have that cutting edge that Marriott has. And, it showed.

The Rams barely created a chance of note for an hour and Lampard only changed things as soon as they went 2-0 down.

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After that, it was one-way traffic and whilst Villa naturally sat back to protect their lead, the introduction of Marriott, and then Martyn Waghorn, clearly helped the Rams.

As he always seems to do, the former Peterborough man was sniffing out opportunities straight away and a left-footed effort went inches wide not long after he came on.

Then his big moment did arrive, when his shot, which was going in, took the slightest nick of Waghorn to give Derby hope.

Despite late pressure, they couldn't get an equaliser and it will have been a very frustrating afternoon for all connected to the club, particularly Marriott.

He will be wondering today what might have happened had he started and it's hard not to think it would've been a different game.

It's believed that Lampard isn't always happy with the 24-year-old's work when out of possession but yesterday the focus should've been on what he does when he has the ball.

Of course, we don't know what would have happened but Marriott is not going to be happy he wasn't trusted from the start and it's a decision Lampard may be regretting right now.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.