Rams are pleased to play kids in the Cup, says CEO

DERBY County chief executive Stephen Pearce has confirmed that tomorrow’s FA Cup third round tie against Chorley will go ahead, with a mixture of Under-23 and Under-18 players turning out for the Rams.

The club announced on Monday that the Moor Farm training ground had been closed due to “several firstteam staff members and players” testing positive for Coronavirus.

That means that the first-team squad and staff have taken the precautionary measure of going into self-isolation.

Speaking on Sky Sports News, Pearce said: “We’ve got nine players, a mix of players and staff, who have tested positive on Monday morning for Covid and as a result of that, through consultations with the EFL, the FA and Public Health England, we were advised that we needed to quarantine and close our training ground.

“Unfortunately, the first team and the first-team coaching staff are in isolation until early next week when they’re retested.

“It does mean that we will be able to fulfil our fixture at the weekend against Chorley but it will be with a mixture of the under-23s and under18 academy players.”

Pearce also outlined some of the challenges that have had to be faced in order to continue to prepare for the game.

“Part of the issue we’ve got is the way our academy operates. We’ve got quite a lot of our young academy talent involved in the first team squad bubble, so we had a lot involved in the game, even on the bench, against Sheffield Wednesday,” he said.

“It means it takes some of those out of the equation but we still have, at the moment, 16 players who we are able to put out on Saturday against Chorley and, to be honest, as a club we’re quite pleased that we’re able to do that.

“We’re really keen to get the game up and running and it’s a great opportunity for those guys and for Pat Lyons and Gary Bowyer, who will be taking the team.

“The FA regulations are slightly different in the EFL, so if you’ve got 14 registered players, it doesn’t matter if they’re academy registered or first team registered, you’re obliged to fulfil a fixture if you can, unless there are other reasons if you want to apply.

“We’ve gone to a lot of lengths over the last 24 hours with the training ground shut, because we’ve also had the two-week break from the stadium with the way the games have been played, taking the opportunity to relay the pitch, so we’ve had to find alternative training arrangement for those guys.

“They’ve trained at a school today and the FA are assisting us tomorrow and Friday at St George’s Park for them to train.

“They’re also paying for the squad, ready for the weekend, to be tested again, that’s the academy squad that are due to play, so fingers crossed the guys get the opportunity to play in the FA Cup on Saturday.”

KRYSTIAN Bielik missed out on the Sky Bet Championship player of the month award.

The Derby County midfield player earned his place among the four nominees following an outstanding spell in the Rams’ revival.

But the judging panel have given their vote to Duncan Watmore of Middlesbrough instead.

Brentford’s Thomas Frank was named the Championship’s manager of the month for December.