Rooney: “It’s A Game We Have To Win, Simple As That”

Wayne Rooney has made it clear that Derby County’s players need to ‘stand up and show their character’ when they head to Preston North End on Tuesday evening (7pm kick-off).

Derby have four games remaining in their 2020/21 Sky Bet Championship season and they remain four points clear of the division’s bottom three following results over the weekend.

Rooney’s side returned to action following the March international break with a 2-0 victory over Luton Town but have suffered three successive defeats since then.

Those losses, against Reading, Norwich City and Blackburn Rovers, have seen the Rams perform well but not be rewarded for their displays.

Rooney has stressed the need for Derby to pick up a victory at Deepdale and prioritise points over their performance at such an important stage of the campaign.

“It is a game we have to win, it’s as simple as that,” Rooney told RamsTV. “I have made it clear to the players that I am not interested in the performance as in the last few games we have performed well, but we haven’t got the results.

“I am not interested at all in the performance, it is all about the result. Of course, in order to get the result, you have to play well to a certain extent, but the players need to stand up and show their character to go and get three points.

“The one thing we can’t afford to give away is easy goals. I think the last few games we have given away sloppy goals and that is what has cost us, it is not the performance. Individual mistakes have cost us.”

Rooney added: “We need to make sure our concentration is spot on and we have to go and win the game. We have to take it to Preston, which we are looking to do, and hopefully we can get three points.

“All we can do is focus on ourselves, focus on our next match and try to get the win.”

Striker Martyn Waghorn is set to return to the matchday squad after missing the last three matches with a hamstring problem.

The 31-year-old was injured in the 2-0 home win over Luton Town earlier this month, where he set up Lee Gregory’s opener, but has made a quick recovery.

Otherwise, Rooney will have no other players back from injury for the trip to Deepdale.

Speaking ahead of Monday’s training session: “Martyn Waghorn is back, he trained on Sunday and got through the session well, so he will be in the squad.

“Whether or not he starts, I don’t know yet. He is the one who can come back, the rest of the injured players will not be available.”