3/1 To Win
Lee Glover says the pressures of this season’s promotion push will be hugely beneficial to his squad’s development ahead of this evening’s top of the table clash with Reading.
Lee Glover says the pressures of this season’s promotion push will be hugely beneficial to his squad’s development ahead of this evening’s top of the table clash with Reading.
Derby County’s Under 21s, on the back of a six game winnning run, hold one of the two promotion spots in Barclays Under 21 Premier League – Division 2 with just four fixtures of the campaign remaining.
Their latest win came last Wednesday as Alefe Santos’ strike and Farrend Rawson’s header sealed a 2-0 victory came over Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
Glover, Derby’s Senior Professional Development Coach, says the day as a whole was a great learning curve for his squad.
He told dcfc.co.uk: “In terms of the development side of it, playing at St James’ Park for our players and our group was excellent.
“They did great on the night and we produced another performance that hit the levels and the standards that we set at this club.
“They came up against some big players on the night as well, players that are knocking on the door of their first team like Siem de Jong and Ferreyra and it was a great experience to pit themselves up against players of that calibre.
“There was Adam Armstrong in that side as well who played against Liverpool in the Premier League earlier in that week, so it was never going to be an easy task.
“As a group, though, we are enjoying the adventure of being a Category One status side and playing against these teams and these stadiums.”
From the surroundings of St James’ Park, Derby County will return to Alfreton Town’s Impact Arena to lock horns with third placed Reading.
Like Derby, tonight’s visitors make the trip to Derbyshire in fine form having won four consecutive games, which includes a 3-0 win over Division 2 leaders Middlesbrough.
Whilst Glover says the experience of being in the thick of a promotion battle will serve them well, he insisted that his side need to forget about the good run of form they have been on and be fully focused for tonight’s meeting with the Royals.
He added: “We have won six league games in a row now, but we have forgotten about that.
“The next challenge for us is Reading and we are going to be in for another tough game. They are on a good run, but we have done our work and prepared ourselves right and we will be ready.
“The experience of being towards the top end of this division will be a beneficial one to these players.
“They are going into the last few games of the season in a very good position, but it is important that we just take every game as it comes.
“Nothing changes for us. We need to make sure that we are organised, give another good account of ourselves and perform to a similar level to that which we showed at Newcastle.”
* Watch tonight's Barclays Under 21 Premier League - Division 2 encounter with Reading at the Impact Arena, kick-off: 7pm.
