Kayden Jackson has hailed the ‘incredible’ Derby County atmosphere ahead of playing his first league game at Pride Park Stadium when the side face Middlesbrough on Saturday in the Sky Bet Championship (12:30pm kick-off).
Jackson, who was Derby’s second summer signing in July, joined from Ipswich Town after securing back-to-back promotions from Sky Bet League One to the Premier League and the versatile attacker played against Boro in the Tractor Boys’ 2-0 win over the North East outfit last season.
After over a month with Paul Warne’s squad, Jackson spoke with RamsTV to discuss getting his first goal in black and white on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup Round One win over Chesterfield, gelling with the squad and looking forward to playing before a packed Pride Park in the league as Championship football returns to Derby for the first time since May 2022.
On getting his first competitive Derby goal and win against Chesterfield…
It's always nice to score, but the main aim of the night was to get through to the next round, and, thankfully, we did that. In the early stages of the season, and you're never going to be in your full flow, but I thought the lads played some good stuff and created plenty of chances. On another day, we could have scored more goals. However, it was just about winning and getting through to the next round.
On settling into the squad…
After the first week of being here, I had a really good feeling. I felt comfortable with the lads and I was enjoying the training, albeit it was very tough. I had a really good feeling, it felt right, and it felt like home, so that's definitely helped the adjustment period.
It's all about now making relationships on the pitch. You saw last Friday at Blackburn that there are glimpses of a good team. The lads need to connect with each other a bit more and hopefully understand each other more. When we do get to that point, I'm sure we'll be a very good side.
It's all about understanding and the quicker you can get that understanding, both on and off the pitch, the better you are as a team. The best teams from last season were the tight-knit groups.
I came from a very tight-knit group at Ipwcih, and I think that definitely showed on the pitch. There are some very good sides in the Championship, you have some very good individual players. You can have the best individual players in the league, but it doesn't mean that you're going to get promoted or be successful.
On playing in front of Pride Park in the league for the first time…
I'm looking forward to it very much. The last competitive game that I was involved in at Pride Park with Ipswich, the atmosphere was incredible. To be on the other side of that now and to get to experience it with a Derby shirt on is something that I'm looking forward to.
On Saturday's opponents Middlesbrough…
They're a very good footballing side. They love to control the ball and love to control the tempo. They showed a little bit of a different side to themselves at Leeds United on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup that I didn't really see much last season, which was them quick on the counter-attack and lethal going forward at pace. Middlesbrough seem to have built on what the have done in the last couple of years, possession-wise and stuff like that, and they seem to have rounded up nicely. We want to stop their threats and believe we can pose them some threats as well.
