Gary Rowett has demanded that Derby County keep their foot on the gas and avoid being complacent as they seek to continue their impressive winning run.
Derby have won their last four Sky Bet Championship fixtures in a row and will welcome Reading to Pride Park Stadium on Saturday in their final game before the November international break.
Rowett’s side are unbeaten in seven matches, a run stretching back to mid-September, and the Rams’ boss insists his side should not get ahead of themselves.
Reading, last season’s beaten play-off finalists, sit 20th in the table following a slower than expected start to the campaign.
However, they were 3-1 winners over Nottingham Forest in midweek and Jaap Stam will be hoping that victory can be the kick-start his side needs to climb their way up the division.
For Rowett, though, the main focus is on making sure Derby maintain their high standards.
Speaking to RamsTV, Rowett said: “If we can go to Saturday and get another result it will have been an incredibly fruitful period.
“The results we’ve had lately will take us into a good period regardless of the result on Saturday, but it would be nice to top it off with a good result.
“We can’t go into any game with any sort of complacency about us. We have to make sure we continue to do the right things and work incredibly hard.”
He added: “The Leeds game was our toughest so far in the sense we ran the most we have all season and our high intensity was first-class; so we have to make sure we’re ready for another big game.”
On this weekend’s opponents, Rowett is wary of the threat the Royals pose.
They exceeded all expectations last term to reach the play-off final, but they missed out on a place in the Premier League following a penalty shoot-out defeat to Huddersfield Town.
He said: “I know Reading haven’t had the best of starts to the season but they’ve picked up a bit recently under Jaap Stam and got a good win in midweek against Forest.
“They are a team that’s always going to test you as they are possession based team and have some excellent players.”