Scott Carson says Derby County can take a great deal of confidence from their impressive showing against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Derby bowed out of the Emirates FA Cup at the Third Round stage with a 2-0 defeat to Jose Mourinho’s side on Friday evening, before a crowd of over 73,000 supporters.
Gary Rowett’s side, roared on by a Rams following of over 5,000 fans, pushed the 12-times winners of the competition all the way and only late goals from Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku spared United’s blushes.
Carson made a number of key saves to keep United at bay, in particular from Juan Mata and Paul Pogba free-kicks in the first half, to continue his impressive run of form in goal.
Derby sit second in the Sky Bet Championship table and the 32-year-old believes the Rams can take plenty of positives from their performance against the Red Devils into their final 20 games of the campaign.
He told RamsTV afterwards: “We all knew what we were going to be up against before the game even started.
“I don’t think anyone gave us a sniff of a chance but we were five or six minutes away from a replay and that would have been pretty special.
“I think we can be really proud of ourselves. We have caused them a few problems and defended well by putting our bodies on the line, which we had to do to be in with a chance.
“Tonight can give us a great deal of confidence to take into the final 20 games of the season in the league.
“We came here with nothing to lose and we will go home with our heads held high.”
He added: “When you’re a youngster growing up you want to play in stadiums like this and be part of big games.
“I’ve played at Old Trafford in the past but I was young and inexperienced, so I probably didn’t enjoy it. Tonight, I did.”
Carson admitted he was left with little chance of saving Lingard’s superb opener from distance.
The former Derby loanee produced a moment of magic at a key moment for United, before Lukaku scored in the final minute as the Rams were caught on the break.
Carson said: “The Lingard strike was pretty special and there wasn’t much we could do about it.
“We had to go for it after that and try to get back into the game and they caught us on the break for the second goal.”
After a valiant effort against the Premier League giants, Derby’s focus now turns to the final 20 games of the Championship season.
Handily placed in the promotion race, the Rams head to Midlands rivals Birmingham City next Saturday.
Carson says the Rams need to keep ‘chipping away’ as they aim to maintain their impressive form of recent months.
He said: “We know the league is the most important thing and it was before the game tonight.
“If we can cause teams like Manchester United problems, we can do it to teams in our league too.
“We need to just keep chipping away and hopefully, by the start of May, we’re right up there.”
