HUDD: WE HAVE TO KEEP NERVE IN RUN-IN
DERBY midfielder Tom Huddlestone believes his side need to keep their nerve towards the end of the season as the battle for promotion hots up.
The Midlands club currently sit in the play-off places and Huddlestone has been in this position before.
He achieved promotion to the Premier League with Hull during the 2015-16 season.
The Tigers overcame Derby in the play-off semifinals that year and the 31-year-old midfielder has issued a rallying call to his teammates with the same goal in mind.
“It’s about keeping your nerve and sticking together,” said the former Spurs man.
“The management staff and players are all on board and we need all the fans with us as one.
“We have the same objective: to get Derby County promoted. We set the standard a few months ago, so we know we need to get back to that level.
“Our results recently have been a little bit of a blip, but every team has a spell like that during the season.
“We need to start keeping clean sheets because we know, with the attacking players we have, we’re going to get goals.”
The Rams enjoyed an excellent first half of the Championship season but did stutter at the beginning of 2018, winning only two matches across January and February.
Now, with 11 league fixtures remaining, Huddlestone is of the view that the club are in a strong position.
“Obviously, we’ve not been on the best of runs recently and some people on the outside are writing us off a bit,” he added.
“But we’d have bitten your hand off to be in this position after the first month of the season.
“We have a lot of points to play for and it’s all up for grabs.”