‘I Cannot Wait For These Last 20 Games!’

It’s full steam ahead for Derby County now and the club’s top scorer Matej Vydra is fully focused on ensuring he continues to play a leading role in the club’s promotion challenge.

Saturday’s trip to Birmingham City marks the start of the Rams’ final 20 matches of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign and Gary Rowett’s side head into it handily placed in the automatic promotion positions.

Derby’s Emirates FA Cup third round exit to Manchester United last Friday means they are now left with just the league to focus on – something that Vydra feels could prove to be a blessing in disguise in the long run.

That said, the 25-year-old feels the meeting with Jose Mourinho’s side provided the players with an extra motivation to make the most of the remainder of the season.

“It was a good experience,” Vydra told RamsTV. “I have never played at Old Trafford before, but for the team it was good for us to see how we coped against a strong Premier League side.

“Scotty Carson made a number of good saves, but that aside, we did really well. Looking at the bigger picture, maybe it will prove beneficial that we can just concentrate on the league.

“Everyone wants to play at places like Old Trafford, the Etihad Stadium, Stamford Bridge and the Emirates Stadium on a regular basis.

“We want to face top teams all the time and right now we are second in the Championship. We have a good run in, we’re doing well in this moment and I cannot wait for these last 20 games.”

Currently nine league games unbeaten on the road – you have to go back to the promotion-winning season of 1995/96 season to find a comparable run.

Can Derby make it 10 at St Andrew’s?

That’s a feat that hasn’t been achieved since 1969 when the club embarked on an 11-game unbeaten run on the road, but if they are to continue this form, Vydra says it is imperative that the Rams do not change how they are approaching games.

“We cannot think and look too much into how they (Birmingham) are playing because we know what can happen in the Championship,” He said.

“We can only focus on our team, our game and our producing our best performance – like we did against Ipswich.”

Back to that Ipswich game and that, arguably, has been one of Derby’s finest away performances of the season.

Five changes were made to the starting line-up at Portman Road, but Rowett’s men were relentless in their approach – particularly in a dominant first half in which the scoring could have been anything they wanted it to be.

The Rams ran out 2-1 winners in the end, thanks two strikes from Sam Winnall, and Vydra felt the players showed all of their qualities to claim the three points.

On that point, we wanted to find out why the Czech Republic international feels the Rams are thriving on the road at this moment in time.

“Maybe this is something that I have said before, but away from home I always feel you have to go for teams,” Vydra explained.

“They play far more open when they are at home compared to when they come to us and it gives us forward players far more space to attack. That benefits me, and I think we are seeing that.

“At Ipswich, we had everything, especially in the first half. We pressed so well, and I hope we can play like this again on Saturday.”