Attacker Kayden Jackson says Derby County should be full of confidence going into their Boxing Day Sky Bet Championship fixture against West Bromwich Albion at Pride Park Stadium (5:30pm kick-off).
The 30-year-old attacker netted his fourth goal in all competitions this season as Derby were on the wrong side of a late comeback against Luton Town on Friday night, with the hosts 2-1 winners.
The Rams will be looking to return to winning ways when they welcome the Baggies to Pride Park on Boxing Day and will be buoyed after a convincing 4-0 win over Portsmouth when they last stepped out onto their home turf.
Jackson, who joined the Rams from Ipswich Town in the summer, caught up with RamsTV to preview Thursday’s Championship action.
On the previous result against Luton Town…
When the game gets taken away from you like that, it's always tough. It can happen against teams like Luton. If we would have come away from that with all three points, I don't think anyone would have begrudged us those. You'd rather that than come away from it losing after not laying a glove on your opponent, but it's tough to take and we just need to learn from that and learn quickly and put it right come Boxing Day.
On scoring against the Hatters and focusing on the positive aspects of Friday’s performance…
The more you experience results like that in football the more you can move on quickly and take learnings from it. That’s important, especially with big games coming up. It was good to be back on the scoresheet. I've had opportunities and I think I'm never really too hung up on needing to score every week, as long as I'm contributing and performing. To be fair, I'm self-critical and I always want to contribute and help the team in any way I can. I felt that my levels had dropped a little bit from the start of the season, so I looked to see what I could do better.
The big disappointment is that, in the end, the goal counts for nothing if you don’t get the points. It's always hard when you score in a game where you feel like you have control and don’t get the result. We played unbelievably well, but to go to Kenilworth Road and to play to the conditions of the pitch was one of those perfect away performances. For 88 minutes, we managed the game well. They had some really big threats up front with their direct way of playing and we stood up to it unbelievably. Hopefully, we can build on the performance and take confidence from the positives.
On reflections at the halfway point of the season…
We've been up and down, but the league this season is incredibly tight. You look anywhere between relegation and the play-offs and there's not much in it at all. There are some very good teams that we’re within a point or two of. It’s cliche, but it's a long season. Ultimately, we'll look back and think that we could have done better in areas - a lot of teams will feel this way too.
On settling into life at Derby and looking to kick-on…
To be honest, I didn't know what to expect when I joined. When you get a season like this, after you've just had a promotion, sometimes you don't necessarily know what to expect. I've enjoyed every minute.
I started well and I think that always helps. There's been a little dip and then hopefully now I can kick on and pick up form again. Especially at the beginning of the season, I was enjoying everything and enjoying every minute on the pitch. Sometimes you don't quite get the results, and performances - we're all human. You can't go out there and have an unbelievable display week-in, week-out. I have to take the confidence from Friday night and look to kick on and enjoy the rest of the season.