Bird Aiming To Put Things Right On Friday Night

Midfielder Max Bird believes Tuesday night’s defeat against Luton Town was a blip - and says everyone is determined to put that result right as Derby County face Stoke City on Friday night (7:45pm kick-off).

The Rams’ seven-game unbeaten run came to an end on Tuesday evening as they fell to a 3-2 defeat at Kenilworth Road in their latest Sky Bet Championship fixture.

Wayne Rooney had given Derby the lead just after the hour mark, scoring his first goal for the club, but a late goal for the Hatters secured them all three points.

The Rams now have the chance to put that result right as Michael O’Neill brings his Stoke side to Pride Park Stadium tomorrow night.

“I think we all realised that it was a disappointing result,” Bird told RamsTV. “The performance wasn’t too bad, but we just let it slip. We know what we can do better.

“We have looked back at the game and seen clips of how we have played and we have another game tomorrow where we need to move on quickly.

“We need to try and get the three points so we it’s just a matter of looking back at it, seeing what happened and moving on from it.

“We know our away form hasn’t been good enough this season and we need to try and get some wins on the road, but we have a home game coming up now and it’s a good chance to get three points on the board.

“It’s a big game for us and we need to move on from the game on Tuesday night and move forward.”

Results at Pride Park Stadium have been impressive.

The Rams have won three consecutive fixtures in front of their home supporters and have the joint second-best record in the division for points gained on home turf.

In total, Derby have picked up 29 points from a possible 45 available and only Preston North End have a better record at home - and Bird believes the meeting with the Potters is a massive opportunity to show what the Rams are all about.

“It’s another game and another chance to show what we are about,” he said. “We weren’t too bad at Luton but we didn’t get the result we wanted.

“It’s a chance now to go out tomorrow night and put it right.”