Derby County boast one of the best away records in the Sky Bet Championship, but Gary Rowett believes that it is time for his team to turn it on in front of their own fans at Pride Park Stadium.
The Rams’ 1-0 victory at Deepdale against Preston North End on Easter Monday means that it’s now just one defeat in 16 for Rowett’s side on the road.
But with Bolton Wanderers set to visit on Saturday, the Derby boss wants his side to produce a similar performance as they look for their first home win since the start of February.
He told RamsTV: “The home fans deserve better than what they saw last Friday. I appreciate that we haven’t been as good as we would have liked at home.
“We haven’t been true to ourselves in terms of how we should play, and we owe the fans a better performance to view and cheer on Saturday.
“People haven’t given us enough credit, but we have lost one game in 16 away from home. I think we have shown incredible resilience and mental toughness to do it away from home on so many occasions.
“There are so many difficult places to play, and we should be given fantastic credit.”
Rowett hopes that the result at Preston can lift confidence ahead of the clash with Phil Parkinson’s side, who will be looking to bounce back after successive defeats.
He said: “I don’t think that we have lacked belief during this period, but we are looking to build on that type of result.
“When the goal went in, everybody looks brighter on the ball, they wanted to get forward to join in with the attacks and everybody wanted to close down a little bit quicker.
“It’s hard to put your finger on it sometimes, but sometimes when a team is in poor form, they look like they’re not trying, but confidence affects many things.
“The more confident a player is, the faster they run and the quicker they close down.”
This week, Matej Vydra was recognised for his superb performances so far this term as he was named in the Sky Bet Championship Team of the Season.
Understandably, Rowett is thrilled with the impact of his star forward and he discussed the key aspects of the set-up that have allowed Vydra to flourish.
“It’s been an incredible season for Vyds. Over the past two or three seasons, he has had a tough time and sometimes confidence has been low,” he explained.
“We have tried to put him in the right position and give him belief, we spend a lot of time talking to him about what we want during the game.
“He’s a great character to work with, he’s a lovely lad and very popular amongst his teammates, and he’s shown his quality this season.
“His goals have been absolutely crucial. People thought that after losing Tom Ince – scorer of 15 goals last season – it would be impossible to get someone of the similar ilk.
“So for Vyds to be on 19, it shows that sometimes when you take one player out of the team, another can shine and he’s been fantastic and it’s fully deserved.
“Hopefully we haven’t seen the last of his goals this season.”