Midfielder relishing Elland Road trip.

Craig Bryson says he’s relishing the big-game feel to Derby County’s trip to Leeds United tomorrow.

The old rivals will once again go head-to-head at Elland Road on Bank Holiday Monday with the Rams looking to do the double over Leeds for the third successive Championship season in a row.

Derby returned to action after a two-week international break on Good Friday against Bristol City at Pride Park, and following the resounding 3-0 win over their opponents Bryson says the Rams have their sights set on a third straight league win.

He said: “Since I’ve been at Derby there’s been a big-game feel to all of our games against Leeds and this one feels no different.


“Obviously it’s two big clubs going up against each other, but there’s a lot of history between both of them and the atmosphere has brilliant in the games I played in last season.


“Now we’ve won two on the trot we want to make it three for the first time this season, so it is a big game for us.


“From what I hear, playing against Leeds is the next fixture the fans look out for after the Forest matches, so we know as a squad how important the fans view this game.


“I was gutted to miss the game earlier in the season at Pride Park because of injury, although it was great to watch the lads deservedly win the game.


“As much as it was enjoyable to watch, I’d rather be out there playing and hopefully that’ll be the case on Monday afternoon.”

The former Kilmarnock player added: “We’ve had a great run of form against Leeds of late, even before I joined Derby, and we’re not taking it for granted at all and hopefully we can get another win.


“It’s a quick turnaround for us having played on Good Friday, but hopefully we’ll be that bit fresher for playing on Friday night compared to Saturday afternoon.”

Bryson was on target for Derby in last season’s success at Elland Road, as he curled home a sublime 25-yard effort into the top corner to break the deadlock in their 2-0 victory.

The Scottish midfielder is more renowned for his surging runs into the opposition’s penalty area; leaving him to admit his goal last April was ‘one of his best’.

Looking back on his memorable strike, he said: “It was one of my best; no doubt.


“I remember picking the ball up from Bucko and being in quite a bit of space, and I quickly fancied having a shot at goal.


“I managed to get enough height and curl on the ball to guide it away from the goalkeeper, and it was a great feeling to see the ball hit the back of the net.


“As I said earlier I missed the game against Leeds earlier in the season so hopefully I can make an impact on the game this time, although I doubt I’ll score a better goal!”

Looking back on the Easter Friday encounter with Bristol City, Bryson added: “We were excellent from the word go and we deserved the win.


“Everyone felt fresh after the break and I think that was clear in our performance.


“It’s great to have two wins a row behind us because our performances in recent weeks have deserved a little run like that, and hopefully there’s a few more victories to come in the next few games.”

A win for Derby would be their ninth in a row against Leeds, a run which stems back to the 2006-07 campaign.