Henrich Ravas says Derby County Under 23s’ need to use tonight’s clash with PSV Eindhoven at St George’s Park as an opportunity to turn their season around.
The Rams take a brief reprieve from their Premier League 2 Division 1 this evening to face the Dutch outfit in their first venture in the International Cup, kick-off: 7pm.
Darren Wassall’s side are yet to get their 2016/17 up and running since their title winning campaign last term.
They have been unfortunate along the way and could count themselves unlucky on Monday evening when Manchester United, last season’s Under 21 champions, scored a late winner to beat Derby 3-2 at Old Trafford.
Like Alex Cover said post-match, Ravas, the Slovakian goalkeeper, says the result was a bitter pill to swallow for the whole group after they had fought back on two occasions to come within in touching distance of a point.
With no time to dwell on the result, he has preached the importance of just continuing to put the hard work in on the training field as they bid to transform their fortunes.
Ravas told dcfc.co.uk: “It was a hard result to take. We were, and still are, all gutted that we didn’t get any points from the Manchester United game because we had some really good spells. We didn’t deserve to lose.
“We showed great character to score our goals, but after that we sat back when we should have been attacking to get another goal, especially after the boys did well to come back twice from losing positions.
“We have to learn from that. We need to be working hard, day in, day out, on the training ground, but we can’t dwell on this.
“It’s not just about turning this around on a matchday; we have to be doing it every day with every pass, every shot, every tackle, and make sure that we don’t get used to this feeling. We need to build the confidence.
“That, of course, is easier to say than do but it needs to be done. Hopefully things will turn early because we need those points in the league.”
With that, Ravas says Derby’s players need to make sure their heads are right for tonight’s meeting with PSV.
It’s the club’s first venture into the competition, which will see the Rams also take on Benfica and Sunderland during the group stages, with the following two matches being contested before Christmas.
With all eyes on that elusive win, the young shot stopper says getting a result against PSV could prove to be beneficial for their league campaign.
Ravas added: “Our heads have quickly turned to this game against PSV and this is something new for us and the club.
“It’s our first time playing in this competition, so we need to make sure that our heads are right because we need to get the right result.
“It might not be a league fixture, but a positive result in this game can help us in the league.
“European football is a little bit different from the English style. They will be a tidy side who will look after the ball very well.
“We are going to be going for the win, but if we can get some points on the board in this competition and it can prove to be a big thing for us.”