3/1 To Win
Head Coach John Eustace hailed his side’s ‘fighting spirit’ after their 0-0 draw with promotion-chasing Burnley on Tuesday teed up the Derby County's Sky Bet Championship clash at Portsmouth on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
The Rams clinched a hard-won point in a gritty goalless draw against the Clarets at Pride Park Stadium on Tuesday night to make it four wins and a draw from their last six league outings.
Derby will head to Fratton Park on Saturday to play the side 17th in the league for another important fixture, with three points separating the sides in the table with five matches remaining this term.
Eustace caught up with RamsTV ahead of Saturday’s clash on the south coast.
On earning a point against Burnley on Tuesday night…
I thought it was a great effort from everyone involved in the football club; the players on the pitch, the fans, the staff. It was a really good, positive performance. The most important thing is that you can see the fighting spirit of the group. Everyone was together. The substitutes that came on made an impact as well and it was a really tough game. We managed to defend the box properly on Tuesday and come away with a good point.
On looking forward and progressing through a busy fixture schedule…
You've got to look back, because we've got to keep improving. We've got to keep studying the games and the performances, but it's important that we get that out of the way as quickly as we can because, of course, we want to focus on the next opponent. We still have to learn from the games before and there has been a lot of work from the staff yesterday and today and now we're ready to go again [against Portsmouth].
On togetherness being key at the business end of the season…
The players are fighting for each other and they're fighting for the badge, which is the most important thing. I said it's going to be a group effort to get as many points as we can to try and stay in the league. That's not just the players and the staff, that's the fans too. The fans have played such a big part in what we've been doing up to now home and away and once again Tuesday night they certainly played that 12th man.
I say in most interviews that it [the support] is one of the reasons I came to this fantastic football club. I know how powerful the fans are and how much they care about this football club.
I want to be part of bringing something special here, and the only way we're going to do that is by the players and the fans and the staff all being together as one. We want to create a fantastic family environment at this football club moving forward, and the only way we do that is if we're all in it together.
On Saturday’s opponents, Portsmouth…
They're an excellent team and we know it's going to be a difficult match, but one we're really looking forward to and can't wait for.
