Callum Elder says Derby County’s squad ‘stood tall’ in their win against Middlesbrough last weekend and will need to take that same energy into Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship clash at Watford (3pm kick-off).
Paul Warne’s Derby side claimed their first win of the season in a spirited 1-0 win over Boro at Pride Park Stadium.
They are now looking to claim their first points on the road this term when they make the trip to Vicarage Road on Saturday.
Defender Elder sat down with RamsTV ahead of the clash to discuss needing to match every opponent and setting out the teams goals for their return to the Championship.
On having no easy matches in the Championship…
We knew that when we came up into this division that every game will pose a challenge to us. One good thing about this group is that we’ll always take each challenge on. It’s an exciting time; we’re back in the Championship and have now got our first home win. It was great to be back at Pride Park last Saturday. I thought collectively, as a group of players, we stood tall.
The fans got behind us, stuck with us throughout the whole game; especially in the second half when we came under pressure. It was a great feeling to get that first win back in this division, and we now go into another exciting test away at Watford, which we’re all looking forward to, and we’ll look to give a good account of ourselves on Saturday.
On the emotions at full-time against Middlesbrough…
It was a big relief, firstly. When you come under that much pressure in the second half, at that point in that second half, you just want to get over the line and see the job through. It wasn’t really the way we had set up.
We did look to have a mid-block in the game and counter on them. We did that with the goal we got through Kayden Jackson. As the second half went on and the game goes on and they withstand that pressure against us, you need to stand tall.
I thought we did that very well, coupled with some fine saves from Josh Vickers. Every game is going to be a team effort. We showed that last Saturday and it will be no different this weekend.
On needing to be adaptable this season…
You’ve got to show that. If you look at the first two games we played, we went toe-to-toe with Blackburn and came a bit unstuck on the counter. Middlesbrough was a lot different. I felt we were a lot more solid without the ball and we got that goal. It may come down to a mistake, which happened. Showing that versatility game-to-game is important. We will always have our core principles and how we want to play as a team with and without the ball.
On his own goals for the season…
More than anything, it was just frustrating not to have played more of a part than I would have liked last season. Injuries don’t help, of course; you can’t find a rhythm in your performances. You’ve always got to look forward in football and life. I’m excited about the challenge ahead this season. We’re playing for such a massive club that deserves to be back in this division and to progress and push on. We’re privileged to be in this squad that has the opportunity to do that and play for Derby back in the Championship. Moving forward, I’m fully focused on having a good season and playing my part, however, that may be, in this team.
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