Liam Rosenior wants Derby County to make home advantage count when they face Northampton Town in tonight’s Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round replay at Pride Park Stadium (7:45pm kick-off).
Derby and Northampton played out a goalless draw at the PTS Academy Stadium in the original Fourth Round tie last month.
The game produced few clear-cut goalscoring chances and the sides will do battle once again in Derby’s first FA Cup replay on home turf for over ten years.
The prize for the winners is a big one; a home tie against Premier League Manchester United in the Fifth Round in March.
Rosenior, who is part of manager Phillip Cocu’s backroom team, says the Cobblers must not be taken lightly.
Under the guidance of ex-England defender Keith Curle, Northampton are in the Sky Bet League 2 promotion race and have won five and drawn one of their last six league matches.
They sit fifth in the table and are only two points adrift of the automatic promotion places.
Derby, meanwhile, are mid-table in the Championship and head into the replay off the back of an impressive 4-0 thrashing of Stoke City on Friday night and four home wins in a row.
Rosenior says the Rams will look to continue their fine form at Pride Park, but he is expecting a very difficult test against the Cobblers.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the game, Derby’s Specialist First Team Coach said: “We approach this game in exactly the same way as we would for any other.
“You can see from Northampton’s league form that they are flying in League 2 and they showed in the first game why they are such a good side.
“They play a real direct style of football which they are proud of. We are going to have to stand up to that and match their intensity and spirit and hope our style of football can overcome theirs.”
He added: “We are at home at Pride Park and we want to make sure our style of football dominates theirs. We have made sure that we are preparing like we would any league game because Northampton have a lot of threats in their side.
“We didn’t win the first game, but I was impressed with how the players stood up to the physical challenge. We have to stand up to the challenge and win.”
Rosenior, who is now 35, announced his retirement in the summer of 2018 ahead of pursuing a coaching career.
He has fond memories of playing in the FA Cup and played in the 2014 Final against Arsenal for Hull City, although he was on the losing side.
He said: “I was fortunate enough to get to and play in an FA Cup Final whilst I was at Hull City, alongside Curtis Davies and Tom Huddlestone.
“The FA Cup is wonderful and I have a lot of good memories from playing in it. I enjoyed going to Northampton in the Fourth Round; it’s a different atmosphere and the FA Cup is a fantastic competition.”