CHANCES WITH WOLVES
Derby boss stokes up his men to hunt down runaway leaders
DERBY boss Gary Rowett has runaway leaders Wolves firmly in his sights.
Rowett (right) could be in the Premier League already with Stoke but he wants to get there the hard way, going up as champions.
Having only cut Wolves’ lead to 10 points, it remains a daunting task – but Tom Huddlestone says the Rams can do it.
“Can we catch Wolves? I think so,” said the midfielder. “There are a lot of games to play. If you lose a couple back to back, doubt creeps in. It’s our objective to catch them.”
Wolves are red-hot title favourites. But Derby are unbeaten in eight, winning six, and have lost only twice in their last 20 games.
In that time they have climbed from 15th to second and Rowett’s view is: “We are second at the moment and for me it’s about seeing if we can edge closer to Wolves at the top rather than looking over our shoulder.”
Matej Vydra drove in his 16th goal in 22 games in Derby’s demolition of Birmingham – and Huddlestone believes he is the man who can shoot down Wolves.
“Vydra has been unbelievable,” said Huddlestone. “He’s an intelligent footballer who can finish very well with both feet. Teams who go up have a player scoring into the 20s. Vyds is on 16 so he should be aiming to clear 20 quite comfortably. “We haven’t got a target for him, but hopefully he gets closer to the 30mark.” Next up Derby have got fifth-placed Bristol City at home on Friday night and Rowett will get a better idea of whether he was right to sign a new contract and ignore the fast-track route with Stoke. “The most important thing is that Stoke was put to bed in a few days by the chairman,” says Huddlestone. “That could have derailed things. We’ve seen with other clubs, if it is lingering for a bit it does seem to affect the results on the pitch.” Goals from the impressive Johnny Russell, Vydra and Andreas Weimann were painful for the Blues because 13 months ago Rowett was their manager. The staggering decision to replace him with Gianfranco Zola is still being felt. “I thought we played well, especially in the first half,” said Blues boss Steve Cotterill, who is struggling to get money for new players. “We have to take this defeat and try and move on.”
BIRMINGHAM CITY: Stockdale 6, Colin 5, Roberts 6, Dean 6, Grounds 6, Gardner 6, Kieftenbeld 6, Maghoma 6, Davis 5 (Adams 66, 5), Boga 5 (Jota 83), Gallagher 5
DERBY COUNTY: Carson 7, Wisdom 6, Keogh 7, Davies 7, Forsyth 6, Huddlestone 6, Thorne 6, Russell 8, Vydra 6 (Martin 87), Lawrence 6 (Weimann 77, 5),Winnall 5 (Nugent 69, 5)