Defender Ryan Nyambe believes Derby County have to make the most of their upcoming run of home games at Pride Park Stadium as they prepare to enter the final stretch of the 2023/24 Sky Bet League One season.
The Rams have seven games left at Pride Park this term, including Tuesday's match with Charlton Athletic, and Nyambe says positive results on home soil could make the difference come the end of April.
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of Tuesday evening's clash with the Addicks, with four of the Rams' next five league matches on home turf, Nyambe spoke about his recent Africa Cup of Nations experience with Namibia and the eagerness of the squad to bounce back after Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Barnsley.
On his recent AFCON experience...
It was a great experience, I enjoyed it very much. We achieved something we'd never achieved before in terms of qualifying for the knockout stages and got our first ever win in the tournament, so it was a good experience. Our aim was to win our first game ever. We didn't expect to get through to the knockout stages, so that just topped it off.
On what a good tournament can do for football in Namibia...
I'm hoping it opens up the eyes of the people up above to invest in the young lads, the national team and just sport in general back home. Hopefully that is the case. It was very big for me. It's my home, I go back every single year. I lived there for ten years as a child and it's something to be proud of.
On what it was like being on international duty when Derby were still in action...
I was watching every single game that I could. I remember watching the Fleetwood Town game and I was buzzing when we got the 3-1 win. I was keeping a close eye on the matches and looking forward to getting back at the same time.
On the mood in the dressing room on Saturday's loss at Barnsley...
It was a tough loss. Considering the other results as well, it hurt. We just have to pick ourselves up and go again. It's worse when others have dropped points around you because you know it's an opportunity to create a gap and you don't get many chances to do that.
On keeping positive home form between now and the end of the season...
It's going to be massive. We have to make the most of our home games, make Pride Park a fortress and when teams come to us we have to be dominant and show them who we are.