3/1 To Win
Gary Rowett has challenged his Derby County players to maintain the quality they are showing and avoid living ‘off past glories’ in a bid to maintain their form over a busy Christmas period.
The Rams’ Sky Bet Championship campaign takes them to South Yorkshire to face an out of sorts Barnsley side at Oakwell, kick-off: 3pm.
The Tykes head into the fixture off the back of four straight defeats and haven’t tasted victory since the beginning of November.
But that said, the Derby boss insists only complacency will be Derby’s enemy this weekend and has delivered a warning to his players that they cannot afford to take their eye off the ball if they want to build on their six-game unbeaten run away from home.
He told RamsTV: “As a manager, I will never think that the contrasting forms will shape the game.
“They will be a team full of energy and they will start the game full of energy – regardless if they have lost the last four games.
“It will be about us navigating some of those difficult moments, but also the fact that we have won seven out of 10 and are unbeaten six away from home, means we will go there full of confidence.
“We will go to implement our game plan, but they have got a fantastic coach in Paul Heckingbottom and as I say, they are more than capable of turning any team over.
“We will be really positive, and we will be aiming to continue this reasonable run of form that we are in, but that won’t happen if we don’t show the qualities that we have been.
“You can’t live off past glories or past games, you have got to keep churning out performances right from the start.”
The Rams are set to be backed by another impressive following at Oakwell.
The club’s initial ticket allocation for the fixture – just shy of 2,000 – sold out well in advance of Saturday’s game and some tickets from the additional allotment – now at 3,301 – still remain.
A continuous theme this season has been the club’s ‘brilliant’ away following and Rowett saved a word for those supporters ahead of their latest away game.
“We saw that with the cup game – the amount of people that went on a Tuesday night, when it was cold and damp too if I remember rightly, was fantastic,” he said.
“Our following has been brilliant. Our home fans has been excellent too – I appreciate that some of them have been difficult when they have been goalless – but they are the games that we need them to be massively behind us.
“We want success together and the only way we are going to get it is if we are pulling in the same direction.
“Certainly, the away following that we get is fantastic. I’m sure they will do it again this week.”
