Cover Aiming To Draw Confidence From First U23 Victory

Alex Cover has challenged Derby County’s Under-23s to make the most of claiming their first victory of their Premier League 2 Division 1 campaign when they face Swansea City this evening.

After harsh back-to-back defeats to Arsenal (2-3) and Chelsea (2-0), Darren Wassall’s side beat Sunderland 2-0 at Pride Park Stadium to claim their first three points of the season.

And with that win under their belts, Cover and the rest of the squad are hoping that they can pick up where they left off ahead their next big test against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium tonight, kick-off 7pm.

Speaking to RamsTV, the central defender said: “Collectively, we are all very pleased with the performances so far. We think that in all the three games, we played very well and, particularly in the Arsenal game, I thought we were very unlucky not to get anything from the match.

“We finally picked up our first win against Sunderland and so I think that has given us a massive confidence boost and hopefully we can take it into Swansea.

“If you go three or four games without getting that crucial first win then you can start to feel a bit nervous before games and get down as a group.

“Luckily, this season we were able to get it quite early and hopefully we can kick on from now.”

The Rams’ opponents, on the other hand, reside in a very different position and are still seeking their first win after gaining promotion to the Premier League 2 top flight as the runaway champions of Division 2 last year.

In their first three games, the Swans have taken just a point from a possible nine and sit bottom of the Premier League 2 Division 1.

But for Cover, he isn’t paying any attention to any possible pre-game advantage – his focus is solely on how Derby can claim a second successive win.

“Swansea might be feeling a bit under pressure and a bit nervous,” Cover added. “It could be an advantage or a disadvantage to them, we don’t know how it’s going to be.

“We experienced it last year when we got promoted that there is such a gulf in class and so Swansea will be pushing for that first win and will be fully determined to get it.

“We just need to focus on our game and we’ve just got to do everything that we can.

“I don’t look too much in to things like that, I just think about being on our game and doing what we have to do so that hopefully the result will follow.”