Jake Buxton is confident that Derby County’s Under-23s are edging in the right direction after a challenging start to the 2021/22 campaign.
The Under-23s currently sit at the bottom of Premier League 2 - Division 1 after six matches but their results haven’t quite told the whole story of the opening months of the season.
One win and five defeats have been recorded in the league, but the side’s performances have overall been encouraging and they picked up a 2-1 home win over Charlton Athletic in the Premier League Cup earlier this week to move to the top of Group C after two matches.
Buxton, who supports Senior Professional Development Phase Coach Pat Lyons in running the Under-23s, believes the predominantly young group have had to quickly learn on their feet.
Several regular members of the Under-23s squad have been with the first-team so far this term, as a result of limited numbers at senior level, so Lyons and Buxton have had to rely on players that have only just made the step-up from Under-18 level.
The Under-23s are back in league action on Saturday at Chelsea (1pm kick-off), who are two points ahead of Derby in the league table and have played a game more, and Buxton is confident the Rams’ youngsters can embark on a good run of form sooner rather than later.
Speaking to RamsTV in the October edition of The Academy Review Show, Buxton said: “We have a number of first-year professionals in the group and it does take a bit of time stepping up from Under-18s football into this new level.
“Players need a bit of time to adapt and get used to a new level and the intensity of training on a daily basis that goes with it. The lads are getting there and I am sure we will see that in the performances and results.
“The fixtures in the opening weeks have been tough and obviously there’s been a knock-on effect with players having to split between the first-team and Under-23 groups.
“When the boys have dropped down from the first-team they have done really well for the Under-23s and, in every game, we’ve competed.”
He added: “At times we’ve not got the result we’ve deserved, but we will dust ourselves down and keep working hard to get results.”
In a change from recent seasons, Derby’s Under-23s now train on the pitch adjacent to the first-team at Moor Farm Training Ground during the week.
It is a move that Buxton believes has been beneficial and he feels it has already built a stronger working relationship with the senior squad, led by manager Wayne Rooney.
“The manager has been great and should be proud of the close connection he has developed between the first team and the Under-23s,” Buxton explained.
“The relationship has been class to be fair. He speaks to myself and Pat on a daily basis, as we are now training more closely.”
Buxton re-joined the club in the summer as the Academy’s Professional Development Phase Coach after Gary Bowyer departed to take up the managerial post at Salford City.
As a player, Buxton enjoyed seven years with Derby as a player after arriving from Burton Albion in the summer of 2009.
He made 159 appearances for the Rams and scored on 13 occasions, including a memorable late winner at home to local rivals Nottingham Forest in March 2012.
The popular central defender was also a key part of the Derby side that reached the 2014 Play-Off Final.
Buxton, who began his career at Mansfield Town, recorded just over 500 professional appearances in his career, and is well placed to pass on his experience to the Rams’ youngsters.
He remains a cult hero amongst supporters and while the club is experiencing a difficult time off the field after entering administration last month, Buxton remains confident about the future.
The 36-year-old has also made it clear that there are plenty of ‘fighters’ in the club to play their part in testing circumstances.
He said: “It has been a tough period for everyone involved at the football club, but what we do know is that things will come good.
“This club is too big and its support base, and the staff it has inherited and built, is tremendous.
“The players we have produced, consistently as an Academy, shows there’s good foundations to be successful. The supporters have been getting right behind the first team and it will come right again.”
He added: “We had a tremendous week where the first-team stood up and got a good result in difficult circumstances against Stoke City and then the Under-23s did the same against West Ham United, followed by the Under-18s at Liverpool.
“That showed we have a lot of fighters within the club and there are people here that know about digging in and working hard. That’s what we are doing as a group.”
