Nugent: It's All About Momentum

David Nugent has urged Derby County to carry their momentum into the Christmas and New Year period as Gary Rowett’s side look to avoid the sort of slump that has derailed previous campaigns.

The Rams go into the final game before Christmas against Millwall on Saturday off the back of three successive wins, including an impressive 2-0 victory against play-off rivals Aston Villa last time out.

In previous years, Derby have enjoyed an electric start to the season before tailing off as the year comes to a close, and that is something that Nugent is looking avoid as Rowett’s side continue to chase down the league leaders.

Prior to the Millwall clash, he told RamsTV: “We’ve seen what happens with previous Derby teams as soon as Christmas comes along, but this group of players are even more determined this year to stay in the play-offs and hopefully catch Cardiff.

“Cardiff and Wolves are setting the benchmark at the moment, they’re both in good form, as well as Bristol City so hopefully they slip up and we can capitalise by winning our games.

“It’s all about momentum in this league, when you get on a run, you go into every game thinking that you can win and you can tell that teams fear that when you kick off.”

Nugent felt that the ‘fear’ was in evidence when Steve Bruce’s side came to Pride Park Stadium last Saturday, as Derby shot out of the blocks and could have been in front after less than a minute, before a certain winger continued his superb form.

He said: “Against Villa we started ever so well and we got a deserved lead through Andi [Weimann], we then sat back a little bit but Johnny made a massive difference with his pace.

“You could tell when the second went in that the game was over, they’re our promotion rivals and we blew them out of the water.”

The striker, now in his 17th year as a professional footballer, admits that he is used to the festive schedule as Derby move towards a hectic run of fixtures.

He added: “I’ll be stuck in a hotel in Hull getting ready for the game on Boxing Day but I’m used to it!

“Obviously, it’s not nice to be away from your family but when you’ve been a footballer for so long, you’re used to it and you just get on with it.

“There’s a lot of games coming up and I’m sure that there will be a lot of rotation, we’re at the halfway stage now and we’re giving it a right go.”