‘We Have To Be Strong Mentally’

Gary Rowett insists Derby County must show a strong mentality to bounce back from setbacks as quickly as possible.

Derby tasted defeat for the first time in the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season on Saturday.

The Rams were beaten 2-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers in their first home game of the season, after kicking off the new campaign with a 1-1 draw at Sunderland.

As is normally the case in the Championship, Derby have a quick opportunity to bounce back from the weekend’s loss with Preston North End the visitors to Pride Park Stadium on Tuesday evening (7:45pm kick-off).

Rowett says Derby can’t allow the disappointment of Saturday to linger for too long and have a long-lasting affect, particularly with another game on the horizon so quickly.

He told RamsTV: “In this division, you are always looking for an opportunity to recover from a set-back.

“I think this division has proved that it’s crucial that you’re strong mentally you can’t let things that go against you affect you too much.

“We have to look at why we lost the game on Saturday, which we have done.”

Rowett has hinted at making changes to his side for the first home midweek fixture of the season.

He said: “We’ve got to look at the changes we might need to make for Tuesday’s game and we certainly need to put a little bit more quality and energy into the team.”

The Derby boss said in his pre-match press conference on Monday morning that Tom Huddlestone (groin) is a doubt to face Preston, while it is hoped that Matej Vydra will recover from a hamstring injury to return to the fold.