Huddlestone Says Rams Must ‘Keep Their Nerve’

Tom Huddlestone knows what it takes to get over the finishing line at the top end of the Sky Bet Championship.

The midfielder achieved promotion to the Premier League with Hull City during the 2015/16 campaign.

The Tigers made the step-up to the top flight via the play-off route and overcame Derby at the semi-final stage before defeating Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley Stadium in the final itself.

Huddlestone has got plenty of experience under his belt in a long and distinguished career which started with the Rams at the age of 16.

As well as having a promotion on his CV, in addition to over 500 games in club football, he has also played in high-pressure games at the highest level for both club and country.

He isn’t the only one as well and manager Gary Rowett has one of the most experienced squads in the division to call upon.

With Derby in the thick of the Championship’s promotion race with 12 games to go, there’s plenty of know-how and nous in the dressing room.

Ahead of Saturday’s top-six clash against Fulham at Pride Park Stadium (3pm kick-off), Huddlestone feels it’s vital that the squad keep their nerve as they enter the final two months of the campaign.

Derby go into the game against the Whites, who are unbeaten in 2018, off the back of five draws from their last seven matches – and the 31-year-old says it’s time for the side to rediscover their consistency.

He told RamsTV: “It’s about keeping your nerve and sticking together. The management staff and players are all on board and we need all the fans with us as one.

“We have the same objective; to get Derby County promoted. We set the standard a few months ago so we know we need to get back to that level. Our results recently have been a little bit of a blip, but every team has a spell like that during the season.

“Cardiff are flying high in second spot at the moment but it wasn’t that long ago that they lost four on the spin.

“It’s all getting back to the consistency which we had a few weeks ago for a large part of the season. We need to start keeping clean sheets because we know, with the attacking players that we have, we’re going to get goals.”

He added: “As the manager has said recently, we’ve probably created more chances in the last few games without actually winning them. We’ve conceded less chances as well but we’re just not getting the rub of the green.

“We’ve made a few mistakes along the way as well. I suppose the only difference is if we made a mistake a few weeks ago we were perhaps getting away with it. We need to get back to what we were doing.”

With 12 games to go, 36 points remain up for grabs.

The likelihood is that one automatic promotion place is up for grabs, with Wolverhampton Wanderers some way ahead of the rest in top spot.

Huddlestone believes there’s all to play for in the coming weeks, particularly with Derby facing a number of their promotion rivals.

As well as facing Fulham this weekend they still have to play fellow top-six incumbents Wolves, Cardiff City and Aston Villa, as well as Middlesbrough and Preston North End who sit on the periphery.

Huddlestone explained: “We’re heading into the last 25 per cent of the season now.

“Even though it feels like we’re quite close to the end of the season there’s still a large chunk of matches to play. We’re playing a lot of teams in-and-around us as well so it’s all to play for in the next two months.

“Obviously we’ve not been on the best of runs recently and some people on the outside are writing us off a bit, but if we’d have bitten your hand off to be in this position after the first month of the season.

“We have a lot of points to play for and, as I said earlier, it’s all up for grabs.”

Huddlestone believes Derby will take a confidence boost if they can defeat Fulham this weekend.

The Cottagers, who were beaten in the play-offs last season at the semi-final stage by Reading, have shot up the table in recent months.

They are currently the form side in the division and Huddlestone is convinced a positive result would be the perfect kick-start for the final two months of the campaign.

He said: “It’s going to be a good advert for the Championship. Fulham like to play out from the back and their players are very comfortable in possession.

“They have been on a fantastic run but, as with ourselves, we know that good runs come to an end. Our objective is to take their unbeaten run in the calendar year.

”I think we probably need that win to give everyone that little bit more confidence and kind of kick-start the back end of the season.

“If we can get a win against a good team in Fulham, who are in great form, I think it will give everyone a lot of confidence.”