Head Coach Paul Warne has challenged his Derby County side to back up their performances with a positive result against Portsmouth in the Sky Bet Championship on Friday night (8pm kick-off).
The Rams earned a point on the road and kept a clean sheet against third-placed Burnley on Tuesday night, after tasting a 2-0 defeat against fellow Championship high-flyers Leeds United last Saturday.
They will be looking to return to winning ways when they welcome Portsmouth for the first Friday night fixture of the season at Pride Park Stadium.
Warne's side tasted a 2-1 defeat through a late goal in their last home game at the start of December, despite putting in a strong performance against Sheffield Wednesday.
They will be looking to back up their recent performance levels with a result when they go head-to-head with last season's Sky Bet League One champions.
Warne sat down with RamsTV ahead
of Friday night’s game under the lights.
On getting a point on the board against Burnley…
I was really pleased. Middlesbrough had the same two games as us (against Leeds United and Burnley away from home) and they got a point from them as well - which shows it's a good result. Sometimes you get a gut feeling. I thought we might even steal it at the end at Turf Moor.
We were pleased with the performance and, I think, we got through injury-free. We just need to keep trying to shuffle the pack, with three games in seven days, to try and keep it as fresh as we can. The lads who have been coming off the bench have had a real impact as well, which is good. Competition for places is good.
On keeping a clean sheet at Turf Moor…
It is great to get clean sheets, especially away from home. I don't think Jacob had a lot to do, a couple of good saves. I'm always facetious about this, but that's what he's there for. It comes from the whole team; we had Dajaune Brown and Jerry Yates working hard at the top of the pitch and the midfield three covered a ridiculous distance. Collectively, they did really well - and clean sheets are the foundation of any success.
On looking to return to winning ways at Pride Park Stadium…
I don't think the performances have changed greatly from the start of the season. I feel we've been really good in every game at home. We've been proud of how the lads played but have just been disappointed with some of the results.
My attitude hasn't changed about our performance levels. It's much nicer to walk around the pitch at the end of the match when we've won, everyone's in it to win and we're in it to entertain the fans. We don't have to go a million miles away from what we've been doing. We just have to take our chances when we’re on top. And, again, it's a really good Portsmouth team we are up against.
On Friday’s opponents Portsmouth…
In the last six games they've drawn three and won three, and all their front four are firing. They've got some real pace and threat - and they're energised. In fairness, they were, over the course of the season, better than us last year by winning the League One title. I know it's going to be a tough fixture, but we just have to be our best. If we can be clinical, we will give ourselves a good chance to win.