"It Was Brilliant To Be Back Out There"

Central defender Curtis Davies was delighted to return to first team action following an injury which saw him on the sidelines for three months.

Davies has not featured for the Rams since the opening day of the season after sustaining an injury, but he managed the full 90 minutes in this afternoon’s 3-1 victory over his former side Birmingham City.

The defender, who captained the side this afternoon, felt his side deserved the three points on the back of their second half performance.

“It was brilliant to be back out there,” he told RamsTV. “I’ve not had too many minutes this season, I’ve only had 90 minutes against Reading at the start of the season and 90 for the Under-23s so to get the shout today was good against one of my former clubs.

“It wasn’t the prettiest game, we were predictable and boring if I’m totally honest, but we mixed our game up in the second half and managed to get the win which I thought we thoroughly deserved.

“We knew they were a team that were going to sit off but if you give them the lead then they are going to do that all day long. The lads have had shots and if you don’t buy the ticket then you don’t win the lottery. We’ve had a couple of goals go in that were lucky but we will take them.”

Davies managed to get through the game, but hearts were in mouths when the defender required urgent treatment when he went down under a challenge in the second half.

It did turn out to be a false alarm but the defender did admit he feared the worst. “It was scary because as I landed my knee got caught beneath me,” he explained.

“I didn’t think it was good but it was just the initial pain that scared me. As I came off I realised I could jump about and I wasn’t going to come off. I was okay, so fingers crossed it doesn’t swell up too much and I will be ready for next week.”

The result sent the Rams up to third in the table, however, following Middlesbrough’s point at Stoke City, Frank Lampard’s side now sit fourth in the Sky Bet Championship, two points off leaders Norwich City.

“It’s looking like a season in the Championship that isn’t going to have a runaway leader that does a Wolves,” he said. “You can win a game this week, draw next week and then be out of the top six so it’s topsy-turvy.

“We just need to concentrate on our performances. The big thing is to get wins on the board and stay amongst those top two, and the top six places.”