Knight: “There Is Still A Lot More To Come From Me”

Midfielder Jason Knight has been pleased with his own personal development this season as Derby County face a long trip to Cardiff City Stadium to face Cardiff City on Tuesday night (7pm kick-off).

The Republic of Ireland international has made the most appearances of any Derby player this season been a consistent performer, both under former boss Phillip Cocu and now Wayne Rooney.

Since making his debut at the start of the 2019/20 campaign against Huddersfield Town at the John Smith’s Stadium, the midfielder has made 69 appearances and scored nine times.

He has been utilised in a number of positions including in the centre of midfield as well as out wide, showing his versatility and importance to the team.

The Academy graduate has been pleased with his own personal development, which has seen him become one of the first names on the teamsheet, but he is keen not to take his foot off the gas now.

“It has been a really good season personally for me, playing a lot of games, but there is still a lot more to come from me,” he told RamsTV.

“I want to get more goals and more assists and keep improving my performances week-in-week-out. That is what I am trying to do now.”

The Rams head into Tuesday night’s game against the Bluebirds in good form. Rooney’s side have won six of their last nine games which has included a 1-1 draw which came in the Rams’ last fixture against Nottingham Forest.

Colin Kazim-Richards’ late thunderbolt earned Derby a share of the spoils at Pride Park Stadium.

“We showed good resilience to come back and get the equaliser, but we thought we could have done a lot better in the game performance-wise and maybe got more out of it,” Knight admitted. “A draw isn’t bad and we move on to Cardiff on Tuesday now.

“It is always annoying when you want to perform better and don’t, but have just got to keep going. We have another chance on Tuesday to get back to those performances.

“We are really hard to beat at the moment and hopefully we can continue to do that, get better results and move forward in the table.”

The 20-year-old will have fond memories from the Cardiff City Stadium. He scored in the Sky Bet Championship fixture between the two sides last season, latching on to a pass by Louie Sibley before firing over the onrushing goalkeeper to equalise on the night in Derby’s 2-1 loss.

He knows it will be a tough encounter in South Wales - but is hoping for a positive result this time.

“Cardiff are in really good form and a new manager has come in for them and done really well,” he said.

“It is going to be a tough, physical game like always at Cardiff, but we know if we perform like we can do then we have got a good chance in the game.”