Calum Macdonald hopes that Derby County's Under-23s can use their impressive Manchester United win to kick-start their season – starting with their opening Premier League Cup tie against Birmingham City.
Goals from Jason Shackell and Offrande Zanzala saw Darren Wassall’s side secure their first away victory of the season last week – a result that Macdonald believes was a long time coming.
He told RamsTV: “We needed it, we feel we don’t have enough points for the performances that we’ve put in and it was a well-deserved win.
“In the middle third we’ve been really good, but we need to be better in both boxes, it’s fine margins but we feel that it all came together.
“We have to repeat what we’re already doing, keep drilling it into us and we know that it will come good.”
The side now travel to the second city to start their cup campaign, with their group also including Middlesbrough and East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest.
Macdonald thinks that the side have the perfect opportunity to prove themselves against difficult opposition, especially after their indifferent cup campaign last season.
On Birmingham, Macdonald said: “They’re a good team, it won’t be any easier than any other game we’ve played so we’ll go into it with the same mentality and, hopefully, get a good result.
“The Forest game is the one that everybody looks forward to because we never really get to play them so it’s always a great draw.
“Middlesbrough have always been one of the toughest teams that we’ll play, they play nice football and it’s a good set-up so it’ll be a good game.
“We know that we didn’t do too well in these cups last year so we’ve got something to prove, we need to put things right from last year.”
The majority of the Under-23s squad will then travel to Spain to take part in the Steve Bloomer Trophy fixture against Spanish Segunda División B side Real Unión – and Macdonald expects a positive experience for the players.
He added: “Hopefully it’ll be a little bit warmer than it is here! It’ll be a different game, it’s a different culture and a different style of football, which will only benefit us.
“Playing against these teams and learning against different styles is always going to be a good thing.”
