Friday night will all be about showing a reaction according to Darren Wassall when his Under-23s side take on Tottenham Hotspur at Pride Park Stadium.
The Rams fell to a 4-1 defeat at Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad last time out – a loss that brought to an end their four-game winning run.
Naturally disappointed with the result itself, Wassall, Derby County’s academy director, felt his players did not respond well enough to falling behind in the game as City took control of the second half to record a comfortable win.
The 49-year-old has indicated that a similar set of players are set to start against Spurs and the onus will be on them to prove that the display last time out was a one off.
Wassall told RamsTV: “Of course, it’s disappointing to lose any game 4-1. As a group of players, I don’t think we could turn around to each other and say we deserved anything from the game.
“The scoreline perhaps flattered Manchester City. We started brightly over the first five minutes – I thought we were excellent – but we didn’t react very well to conceding the goal we did away from home.
“We had won our last four games prior to that and we thought we would be a bit more resilient than that.
“Full credit to Manchester City, once they scored the second goal, straight after half time, it proved to be crucial and it effectively ended the match.
“We haven’t been demoralised by the result, because we have got a good opportunity to bounce back and now it’s about how we react.
“There will be a similar set of players who play on Friday and we want to see what sort of reaction we get. We have to make sure we don’t dwell on that disappointment.”
Very little separates Friday night’s opponents, in terms of Premier League 2 Division 1 standings.
Spurs’ 3-2 victory over North London rivals Arsenal saw them not only return to winning ways, but off the foot of the table to sit just behind the Rams.
Assessing the opposition, Wassall says that the number of English players that have broken into Tottenham’s first team in recent years highlights the ‘excellent’ job the club has done in recent years.
He added: “We have had some really tough games against them in recent years and Friday, without a doubt, will be no different.
“You can see with their first team that their youth development is excellent. You have the likes of Harry Kane and Harry Winks – two players that are now playing at the top level.
“Tottenham have great resources; great players and they are going to provide us with another tough task.”
