Four games in and fine margins have proven to be a significant factor in Derby County Under-23s’ Premier League 2 Division 1 campaign.
So far this season, Darren Wassall’s side have taken three points from a possible 12 with their sole win coming against Sunderland (2-0) last month, but it could, probably even should, have been more.
A narrow 3-2 loss against Arsenal, in which the side led 2-0 at one point, on the opening day and subsequent defeats against Chelsea (2-0) and more recently against Swansea City (5-2) have seen the side taught a harsh lesson very early on in the season – if you don’t take your chances, you will get punished by the top sides.
Now, Wassall is working hard to try and turn those fine margins into his side’s favour ahead of Monday night’s meeting against the reigning Premier League 2 champions, Everton.
Reflecting on the Under-23s season so far and in particular, the Swansea game last week, Wassall told RamsTV: “I think in every game in this league, fine margins will define the result.
“The performances have been pretty good, but at the top level, it’s a results driven business and we want to win games.
“Against Swansea, I think the players performed very well, particularly after going 3-0 down to pull it back to 3-2.
“It was a good learning curve for everybody that even though you get back into the game, if you give your opponent at the top-level half a chance then the ball may end up in the back of the net, which it did.
“To lose 5-2 was quite harsh on the whole team but hopefully it’s a lesson that they will have learnt from.
“Against a very experienced Swansea side, I thought that we kept the ball very well from start to finish. We played a lot of good football but ultimately, as we’ve seen, you are judged as a footballer in what happens in both boxes.”
A big week lies ahead for the Rams as they look to get more points under their belt.
First up, as mentioned earlier, is a meeting with Everton under the Pride Park floodlights, before the Rams hit the road on Friday to take on Manchester United at Leigh Sports Village.
There’s no doubt that both fixtures pose difficult tests for Derby, but Wassall himself wouldn’t have it any other way.
The 49-year-old feels that his young players can only truly prepare for a career in the game by testing themselves, week in, week out, against the best up and coming players in the country.
“It doesn’t get any easier for us because we’ve got Everton and Manchester United coming up next week,” Wassall added.
“Every game in this league is tough but they are great challenges and ones that we want our young players to experience.
“There’s no point lulling our players into a false sense of security. By having the best challenges at Under-23 level, it will help to equip them in the next step of their careers.
“When you win games, it breeds confidence.
“We go out and we try to win games all the time, we’re not here just to make the numbers up.
“At the moment, the players are in great shape in terms of their attitude, their desire and their work rate in training.
“We just need to make sure that we get ahead by fine margins and we actually come out on top in battles that matter in both penalty areas because that’s the only thing that’s defining us winning and losing at the moment.”
