3/1 To Win
Central defender Matt Clarke could not have wished for a better debut for Derby County against Huddersfield Town on Monday night and he is hoping to build on that result going into Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship game against Swansea City.
The 22-year-old, who signed on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion last week, impressed on his debut with the Rams a few days later.
Clarke was thrown straight into the action and played the full 90 minutes at the John Smith’s Stadium and earned plaudits for his defensive display.
Whilst Tom Lawrence stole the show with his brace, Clarke’s performance at the back was equally impressive and he was pleased with how his debut unfolded.
“I think if you could plan a debut, you would have a go like that,” he told RamsTV.
“The most important thing was to get off to a winning start and hopefully look to build some momentum going forward.
“The performance was nice, but the most important thing was the three points. The best way to build relationships and start to build an understanding is to play together.
“You can train together all you like but there is nothing better than getting out there and playing in a competitive match so I think it seemed to go well on Monday and we hope to build on that.”
Along with his defensive work, Rams fans saw many marauding runs forward to start attacks from the defender and precision passing to split open the hosts.
“Naturally that is my game,” he admitted. “I must admit on Monday, going into the game, I was telling myself to keep it simple, do my job, defend, make sure you’re in the right places and give the ball into midfield - but when you’re in the game, your natural game takes over.”
Although the defender has only been with the club for a week, he has already settled in well to the dressing room.
“You can see there are a lot of good lads here,” he commented.
“There is a lot of banter flying about and it seems like they enjoy each other’s company so that makes it an enjoyable place to be.
"We spend a lot of time together throughout the season and the fact everyone seems to get on can only work well for us.”
Swansea City are the visitors to Pride Park Stadium on Saturday as the Rams prepare for their first home game of the season.
The Swans won their opening league game of the campaign last weekend, in a 2-1 home win over Hull City, and Clarke is focused on building up good momentum at this early stage of the season.
“It will be another tough game,” he admitted. “I think we are just looking to build on Monday. We have to concentrate on ourselves.
“You can’t get too carried away with the opposition, you have to make sure you play your game. We have to take a lot of positives from how we played in the first half on Monday and how we defended in the second half so there are things to build on.”
