Lee Grant has called on Derby County to ‘go and maintain their momentum’ when they face Cardiff City this weekend.
Lee Grant has called on Derby County to ‘go and maintain their momentum’ when they face Cardiff City this weekend.
The Rams go into the clash in the Welsh Capital having won six of their last seven games – a record that has seen Steve McClaren’s side record just as many clean sheets.
Their latest victory, which moved Derby joint top of the Sky Bet Championship alongside AFC Bournemouth, came against Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday evening.
Darren Bent stepped off the bench to score his first league goals since he joined the Rams on loan until the end of the season, but Derby had to bide their time to make the breakthrough.
“The gaffer preaches to us a lot about the word patience,” Grant, who turned 32 earlier this week, told Rams Player. "We were probably guilty last year of not having enough of that and not having enough maturity about some of our performances.
“This year, we have learned some lessons and we will learn more along the way. On Tuesday, we maintained our shape, our discipline and fortunately Darren Bent was Johnny-on-the-spot for us and scored two good goals.
“At this stage, all results are important, but it was nice to get back to winning ways in the league.”
Whilst Bent took a lot of plaudits for his two-goal cameo, Derby’s goalkeeper also made a defining save during the second half of Derby’s win over Blackburn – shortly after they had taken the lead against their opponents.
It came as Chris Brown flicked the ball up in the area and volleyed goalwards, but Grant highlighted the key blocks that the defenders made in front of him as just as vital.
He added: “It just turns out to be an important save at an important time. It’s a case of doing your job and be ready to do that as Darren was at the other end.
“When you see the some of the blocks that Richard Keogh and Jake Buxton have made and they are defining moments.
“It’s up to us as a squad to make sure we are aware of our jobs, we know them fully and we are doing them required.”
Now, Derby will be looking to record their first win at Cardiff since September 2004 – a side that have won as many games on home soil as the Rams this campaign despite their contrasting league positions.
Four of the Sky Bet Championship’s top six will play each other before Derby take to the field, but Grant insists that whilst the squad will have one eye on the other fixtures, their game at the Cardiff City Stadium is their prime focus.
The goalkeeper concluded: “It will be an interesting one on Saturday with all the other sides playing before us, that’s quite unusual because over the last couple of months it has been us playing before everybody else.
“We can concentrate on the three points on hand that are at Cardiff. It will be a tough game and we need to go there and try and maintain a bit of momentum.
“It’s a strange one for us because we have quite enjoyed playing early and having the opportunity to put pressure on those around us.
“I'm sure that they will now be looking to do the same things to us. They will be looking to get an early result and put the pressure on us and we are going to have an eye on that on our way down to Cardiff.
“We have got a huge task at hand and we go to Cardiff knowing that they are a very strong and organised side. They have got a lot of good players down there so it will be a big test for us.”
You can see the full interview with the Derby County goalkeeper on Rams Player ahead of the game this weekend.
