Bradley Johnson has highlighted the importance of Derby County tightening their defensive record ahead of this weekend's trip to Bristol City.
The Rams head to Ashton Gate looking to build on their record of three wins from four recently in the Sky Bet Championship, kick-off: 3pm.
After ‘setting the standard’ in their emphatic 5-0 victory over Hull City at Pride Park Stadium last Friday night, Johnson believes that the game against the Robins, who are unbeaten at Ashton Gate so far this term, will pose a different sort of test as the Rams look to replicate their impressive defensive record away from home turf.
Derby have only kept two clean sheets in their last 18 League matches on the road – a record that dates back to the middle of last December.
And only when they become harder to beat away from home as a team, Johnson says that Derby will have a better chance of taking more from games.
“We want to put the defensive record straight away from home,” Johnson told RamsTV.
“It’s difficult in this league to go away because you can’t be as expansive as you are in front of a home crowd.
“We know with our home form that we keep clean sheets on a regular basis and that’s something that we’ve got to take on the road with us.”
In terms of confidence, the 5-0 victory over recently-relegated Hull means the Rams travel to Ashton Gate having won three of their last four Championship fixtures.
On a personal note, Johnson will travel on a high having found the back of the net on two occasions against the Tigers and producing a Man of the Match display.
After the game, Rowett, the Derby boss, revealed that he had taken a look back at Johnson’s final season as a Norwich City player and analysed why he thrived so much.
After being asked about it himself, Johnson says the Rams’ manager has given him license to get forward as often as he can – something he benefitted greatly from against Hull and also Sunderland on the opening day of the 2017/18 season.
Johnson added: “Gary told me throughout the week that he had been watching clips of me from over the years, although he wasn’t too happy about the hair cut!
“It something he has done before and he asked me what position I prefer.
“I came to Derby off the back of a good season at Norwich scoring 15 goals and getting promotion, but since then, I hadn’t really played in my best position.
“In that first season, we lost Thorney (George Thorne) and so I had to play that defensive role so I haven’t really had that chance to play the attacking role.
“Since Gary has come in, he’s told me that he wants me to get into the box and has given me that license to get forward.
“Gary is all about encouragement and he gives us that confidence to believe that we’re going to win the game, but ultimately it is down to us at the end of the day.”