Chris Baird says Derby County set their standard for the rest of the 2017/18 season in their 5-0 victory over recently relegated Hull City on Friday night.
The Rams romped into a 4-0 lead before the interval, thanks to a brace from Matej Vydra, and finishes from Curtis Davies and Bradley Johnson.
The latter added another in the second half to put the icing on top of the cake and send out a statement of intent to the rest of the Sky Bet Championship, not just with the result, but with their performance too.
Baird, who stepped into the right back position after Andre Wisdom was ruled out of the match through illness, says Derby ‘annihilated’ the Tigers in the first half, so much so that the display was up there with the best he has been involved with since joining the club in the summer of 2016.
The 35-year-old former Northern Ireland international told RamsTV: “It is definitely up there, especially against a team like Hull.
“We thought it was going to be a really tough game, but in the first half we absolutely annihilated them and we could have scored more.
“The ‘keeper made some good saves, but that’s standard now that we have set. We have to maintain that and we have to continue that form.
“It would be nice to score four goals every half! In all seriousness, I am absolutely delighted with the performance and with the result.
“It’s another clean sheet for us too as a back five, but most importantly, it’s another three points.”
He added: “We know we are capable of it as well. That’s why it is so disappointing that we went into the international off the back of that result to Sheffield United.
“I mean no disrespect to them, but they have just come up and we didn’t put in the type of performance that we know we can.
“If we can just continue that and do it week in, week out, then we will find ourselves right up in the mix.”