Darren Wassall says his Under-23 team are viewed as underdogs in the league but will prove their doubters wrong as long as they leave everything in the dressing room.
Derby have three crucial games left to secure their place in the top division in Premier League 2 for a third season. Sitting ninth in the table Wassall knows his side must fight for every point to stay afloat.
He also understands grabbing those points will be a tough task, especially as he believes everyone outside of the club sees the young Rams squad in over their heads in the league.
But Wassall welcomes the nay-sayers and has faith his team’s performances on the pitch will silence them.
Wassall told RamsTV: “Let’s be totally frank and brutal about it, we are going into every single game – probably with the exception of Sunderland – as underdogs in this league.
“We are looking at performance more than anything and hopefully if we put in good performances, as proven in the past, we can get some really good results.
"But let’s be honest about it, every game we go into people are expecting us to get beat. So the fact that we are in this league and been in it now for two seasons is a great credit for all the players.
“We are going to go out and enjoy ourselves these last three games and make sure we put out a good account of ourselves. Hopefully that will be enough.”
The final slog starts with a trip to Tottenham today, kick-off: 12pm. Spurs sit one place below Derby in a very tight relegation battle.
The Rams head into the game coming off a hard-fought loss against Chelsea and despite an impressive attempt at a comeback in the second half, the Academy Director said his players have learned they need to put up that same fight from the moment the first whistle is blown.
He insists as long as his team can give their all from the start, the results will follow.
Wassall said: “It’s important that we go out with the right attitude and we try and get three points – if we can’t get three then don’t lose the game and try to get one.
"They are three crucial games, but our attitude will be to get something out of it because three might be enough if we draw all three.We certainly aren’t setting out to draw all three but you don’t want to go and give cheap goals away early doors and make it really difficult for ourselves."
He added: “You can only do your very best, that’s everything we have ever preached here at the academy.
"As long as you can look yourself in the mirror after every training session and after every game and say I couldn’t have done any more, I couldn’t have given any more, I couldn’t have played any better – then that’s all we can ask of every single player."
