Derby County's Under-18s will look to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat to Stoke City against West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night at the Training Centre in Partnership with University of Derby, kick-off: 7pm.
Justin Walker and Rory Delap’s side face a stacked couple of weeks as they make their way through the backlog of Premier League – North fixtures that were postponed due to adverse weather.
The ninth-placed Baggies will be first up to face the sixth-placed Rams, who will play four games over an 11-day stretch.
The hectic schedule will not come as a shock though as Walker and Delap ensured their team have had regular friendly matches to maintain the mindset of regular competition.
Delap believes next two weeks will be a great experience for the young players who will have to both mentally and physically prepare for a tough slate as well as realise what they have to do to recover on such a quick turn around.
Derby were thrust back in to league action against the Potters at home on Saturday after snow and rain had kept them at bay for almost a month. The young Rams had a sluggish start conceding their first goal within five minutes, but that soon forced them into gear.
Despite the result the Rams threatened to even the score numerous times with close calls coming from Yoann Greco and Archie Brown but were reduced to 10 men after a tough challenge saw Eiran Cashin receive his second yellow card.
With their win, the Potters leapfrogged Derby in the table who will look to regain confidence against the Baggies.
West Brom had an emphatic victory over Liverpool on Saturday when they stunned Steven Gerrard’s second-placed Reds 4-1.
But the Rams will look to quickly put a stop to that momentum and pick up the three points as they did the last time they met. A brace from Adam Davie added to a Morgan Whittaker goal ensured a 3-1 win over the Baggies in October.
Derby will be back at the Training Centre in Partnership with University of Derby again on Saturday to face Newcastle United before heading out on the road for matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City EDS next week.