Derby County’s under-21s face Sheffield Wednesday in the side’s third game of their Professional Development League 2 North campaign tomorrow morning.
The Rams’ under-21 side, which is managed by Derby’s first-team coaching staff this season, opened their campaign with a 2-2 draw with Leeds United at their Thorp Arch training ground.
The side’s second fixture saw Ben Davies net the match-winner as Derby County’s Under 21s ran out 3-2 winners over Leicester City’s in an entertaining encounter at Pride Park Stadium last month.
Kick-off is at 11am at Wednesday’s Middlewood training ground and the Rams are expected to hand run-outs to the likes of Valentin Gjokaj, Michael Hoganson, Conor Doyle and Josh Lelan.
Either
Adam Legzdins or Saul Deeney will start between the stick, whilst manager Nigel Clough has hinted both first-team strikers Nathan Tyson and Theo Robinson could start in attack.
Elsewhere, defender Jake Buxton looks set to feature for the first time since overcoming the illness that ruled the former Burton Albion man out of the Rams’ trips to Bolton Wanderers and Wolverhampton Wanderers, before returning to the substitutes’ bench in the side’s 5-1 victory over Watford last weekend.
The creation of a new Under-21 competition has been brought into play to bridge the gap between clubs' academies and their first team, although Derby have recently shown a pathway to the first-team for youngsters with Mason Bennett and Will Hughes making their debuts aged 15 and 16 last season.
dcfc.co.uk will be in attendance and will provide a match report of the game shortly after the final whistle.