Jake Buxton says Derby County cannot afford to succumb to complacency this evening, as they take on League One side Scunthorpe United (7:45pm kick-off) in the First Round of the Capital One Cup.
Derby have bowed out of the First Round of the competition in each of the last three seasons – all to League Two opponents - and although the Rams are facing a team from the division directly below them, Buxton says the side will be taking nothing for granted.
He told Rams Player: “All the lads are prepared and ready and raring to go.
“I have noticed this week that a number of clubs have used the opening League Cup fixture as preparation for the start of the season.
“Those that decided to do that have come up a little bit short, and there have been a few surprises already.
“However, that is not what we will be doing; we are using it as a proper competitive game. We have not done very well in the League Cup in the last few years, so we want to show the Club is going forward and we want to get a result against Scunthorpe.
“If we take them lightly and we underestimate them, then we will get rolled over. So we have got to go out there fighting and compete and basically play for our shirt for the following game against Sheffield Wednesday.
“We want a result, we want to show the fans that the decisions that have been made over the summer have been the right ones and it is a chance for the new players to prove a point and stake a claim in the first-team for the rest of the season.”
Buxton, who was handed the number five shirt by manager Nigel Clough this season, says he is looking forward to the challenge of cementing a central-defensive partnership with summer-signing Richard Keogh.
He added: “We played around 10-15 minutes together at Northampton, the full game at Colchester and then we did about 80 minutes at home to Sunderland.
“I am happy with how things are going, he is a level-headed guy, down to earth, not frightened to tell me not to do, and that works vice versa.
“There are no problems between us so hopefully the pairing will work well and we will be able to keep clean-sheets.”
Watch the full interview with Jake Buxton exclusively on Rams Player.