Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne says his team will be looking to start another positive run of form when they travel to Fleetwood Town on Saturday in their first away day of 2024 (12:30pm kick-off).
The Rams' impressive unbeaten run in Sky Bet League One, that stretched from the end of October through until the start of January and returned 25 points from a possible 30, came to an end with a 3-2 home loss on New Year's Day at the hands of Peterborough United, but Warne says Saturday's fixture marks an opportunity to start another.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the trip to Charlie Adam's Fleetwood in front of the Sky Sports cameras, the Head Coach spoke about Derby's results over the festive period, his aims for January and the test the Cod Army will pose.
Looking back on the festive period...
We're really pleased with how it went, but just disappointed with the Peterborough game obviously. On reflection, we are pleased for the most part. Sometimes the opposition are just very good and the opposition were Peterborough, though collectively we weren't at our best as well. It's just about us going on another run now. We're not going to win every game we play but, over the course of the Christmas period, I thought we looked really good and against very good teams.
On having eight different goalscorers over four games...
You can't rely on one player, you need to share things out. I know what January and the Transfer Window brings. It brings a level of excitement external to the training ground but it also brings agents to the party who work for their players. The more players you can make feel part of things through their hard work, the better. Hopefully, we have a group that are going to stay together and one we can add to. It's not necessarily the best set of players that have success, it's the chemistry of that group. We just need to keep the squad and momentum going.
On his aims for January...
My aims are to fundamentally keep the team winning and if we can improve the team, improve it and if we can keep hold of our best players, keep them. Trying to keep the best players here isn't easy, as it isn't easy for every other team, and trying to improve it which again isn't easy because we're one of the best teams in the league. If we have exactly the same squad come the end of January - is it journalistically dull? Yes. Is it dull for me? No, because if we keep winning games then it's fine. It's just about winning games and getting promoted.
On Ryan Nyambe's absence at the Africa Cup of Nations...
He's been excellent for us as a right-back. All three of our right-backs are amazing in their own way. Ryan is the best one-on-one defender in the league, Joe Ward is the best crosser and Kane Wilson is the best nut-megger/trickster. We'll miss Ryan's defensive abilities but we've got two willing and able players to step in.
On the squad fitness...
We've got a couple of players with some soreness but I think they will be able to train before we travel to Fleetwood, so that should be OK. We should have a pretty good squad to pick from, which is great.
On Fleetwood Town...
They've had an indifferent time. Last year, and in previous seasons, they've always been a bit of a bogey team but we've done OK against them this season so far in the league and the Trophy. They played well at Shrewsbury in their last game and were unlucky to lose. We'll have to be at our best to win and that's how it is every week. Even on our unbeaten run, we still had games where they came down to the smallest of margins. Hopefully we are on the right side of them at the weekend.