Pre-Match Thoughts: McGoldrick Reviews Weekend Win And Previews Grimsby Clash

David McGoldrick believes Derby County’s dramatic late victory over Peterborough United on Saturday saw the character of the side come to the fore at a key time.

Derby came from a goal behind to claim a 2-1 victory in Sky Bet League One thanks to two late goals at Pride Park Stadium.

Jason Knight equalised with an 88th minute header before McGoldrick, off the bench, netted the winner deep into added time.

The goal was the striker’s first for the Rams following his summer switch from Sheffield United and could not have been better timed.

Derby have won all four of their home matches in the 2022/23 season in all competitions and McGoldrick says the Rams want to keep the run going on Tuesday night when they host League Two side Grimsby Town in their opening Papa Johns Trophy - Northern Section Group F fixture (7pm kick-off).

The experienced frontman caught up with RamsTV to look back on the win over Peterborough and also look ahead to the meeting with the Mariners.

On The Peterborough Goal…

As a striker you enjoy your goals and especially when they come as a winner as well. We hadn’t scored for a few games, so to get two right at the end was nice. It was a pleasing day all around and it’s always special to turn it around late on. We are all together as one in the dressing room and it helps with the team bonding too, celebrating together at the end, especially as quite a few of us have come through the door this summer. The changing room was very happy after.

On The Team’s Start To The Season...

We’ve had a good start and I’ve enjoyed playing under the manager and the staff. The manager has said it, we signed everyone over pre-season and some lads are still finding their feet in terms of fitness. We’ve had injuries too, myself included. The feeling to score late on is such a great one and it can only build momentum for us. I think things are going click for us and we saw it did on Saturday at the end; that’s character.

On Building Up His Fitness And The Competition For Places…

I feel I am getting fitter. I came here after a four or five month spell out, following an operation. I’ve been building my fitness up and I had a setback by doing too much too soon, but now I am building things up slowly. James Collins is a top centre forward and the goals will come for him without a doubt, while the other lads behind him are doing great and I am happy to support them and compete for a place. The way we play, we know teams will sit in and make it hard so it’s down to us all to find a way through at times and with the quality we have, goals will be scored.

The Schedule For The Team…

All footballers and want to play games. Training is tough, but you can’t beat playing games. Whoever gets minutes on Tuesday, it will be good for them. We want to go out and win the game and do well in the cup. It will be a good game for us against Grimsby.