3/1 To Win
Left-back Callum Elder says Derby County are fully focused and ready for a competitive knockout tie when they go head-to-head with Leyton Orient in their rescheduled FA Cup Third Round tie on Tuesday night (7:45pm kick-off).
The Rams were preparing to play in their maiden fixture of the 2024/25 Emirates FA Cup Orient on Saturday, but following a pitch inspection the game was deemed unplayable and was rearranged.
Elder spoke to RamsTV on Monday before training to preview the delayed FA Cup action.
On the original scheduled fixture being postponed on
Saturday…
It was a bit of a shock, really. We were waiting around in the hotel and then out of nowhere we had a message come through to say that the game was off, and we'd be travelling back to Derby.
The weather's obviously quite harsh at the minute with some of the temperatures. I guess these things happen at this time of year. We came back to Derby and we go again today to prepare for a big game tomorrow night that will look to progress in a big competition.
On affect of the altered fixture schedule…
The news came at the end of a week where you prepared to play the match and when that doesn't happen you have to quickly readjust your thinking. We had yesterday off, and we've come back in this morning to re-prepare and touch over the same plans that we were looking to impose for the game tomorrow night. It is a disruption but, in this industry, you have to be prepared for things that can alter your planning. Everyone's excited to go again tomorrow night. It'll be a good game; they're a tough side so we're fully focused.
On the meaning of the FA Cup, as an Australian…
Obviously, kids in England grow up with FA Cup memories. I've been lucky enough to experience my own FA Cup memories through playing. Probably one of the best days of my career was beating Manchester City when I was on loan at Wigan Athletic.
It's a magical competition; it sets up moments like this. It can inspire clubs, communities, young kids that are playing in the area to play against the biggest players in the country. There’s a massive tie on offer for the winner of our game tomorrow night, so we're fully focused and know that we need to go down and do the job.
