Vydra: “It’s All About The Team”

Matej Vydra reached an impressive milestone against Cardiff City on Tuesday night, but the forward is not focused on personal landmarks at an important stage of the season for Derby County.

Vydra struck in the 82nd minute to give the Rams a crucial lead under the lights and reach 20 goals in the Sky Bet Championship for the season.

Chris Martin is the only other player to reach that mark for Derby in the past 20 years, but the current Pride Park talisman is only concerned by the achievements of the team as a whole.

Vydra told RamsTV: “I’ve never won the golden boot before, but it’s not about my statistics, I always want the team to win and if I can score then it is amazing for me.

“It’s all about the team, I try to help the team with the goals and hopefully everybody will be happy at the end of the season.”

The goal against the Bluebirds was a crucial one in the race for a play-off spot, but the night didn’t start so well for the forward as he began the game on the substitutes bench.

Whilst Vydra is always keen to start, he admitted that his role as an impact replacement on the night suited him well.

He explained: “I was angry because I was on the bench, but maybe it helped me because everybody was tired and I was fresh.

“The goal was amazing for me and everybody, especially the supporters.

“The ball bounced a little bit but I just focused and when it went in, I was so happy.”

The Rams’ top goalscorer also highlighted the performance of Cameron Jerome, and he hopes that the team can build on a fantastic night with a similar performance against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Vydra said: “He [Jerome] deserved his two goals because he works so hard on the pitch, the goals were so important for us to change the game.

“There are two games left and everybody wants to be in the top-six and to prepare ourselves for the play-offs but against Aston Villa it will be very difficult.

“We beat them at home so we can beat them again. We are focused on these two games and then we will look to what can happen next.

“I hope that we can get into the top-six and you never know what can happen in the play-offs, some teams will be disappointed because they haven’t been promoted automatically.

“This can be good for us, but you need a little bit of luck so I hope that we have enough to go up.”