Pre-Match Thoughts: Warne Looking Forward To Bolton Clash

Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne is expecting Saturday's Sky Bet League One meeting with Bolton Wanderers at Pride Park Stadium to have a different feel to it.

Warne's side take on top six rivals Bolton with just one place and zero points separating the two teams going into the contest.

The two played out a 0-0 draw at the University of Bolton Stadium just last month and whilst the Head Coach is hoping for a more exciting affair, he knows it could take a moment of magic to once again break the deadlock.

Speaking to RamsTV ahead of Saturday, Warne spoke about the recent signing of Tony Springett on loan from Norwich City, reflected on the 3-2 Cheltenham Town win last weekend and looked ahead to the meeting with Ian Evatt's side.

On Tony Springett signing...

I've seen him play live a couple of times, watched a lot of him and spoke to Norwich City on numerous occasions over the last few weeks trying to help them to convince him to choose us.

He suits us for many reasons. He's a really good kid, wants to get better, us keen to play, trains really hard and he's top of all the training data, which I really like. He gives us a bit of balance on the left side so he can play wide of a three on the left or right, he can play as a number ten, in midfield or he can play as a left-back. Anyone that can play multiple positions brings a lot to us.

What I didn't want to do is get exactly the same player to what we have already because in certain games you need a certain sort of player and the more different options we can have as a coaching staff, the better. I think he will play a massive part going forward.

On his reflections from Cheltenham Town victory...

I always want more, that's the truth. I would just like us to be better but I'm still proud of the lads of getting a win and digging in. I'm not saying we got away with one. Our play at times was excellent and we just need to take teams to the sword a little bit better. We scored some brilliant goals and what I liked the most was when we equalised we didn't really celebrate, we just wanted to get restarted again.

On Saturday's meeting with Bolton Wanderers...

They are all cup finals, you've just got to earn the right to play. There's going to be a phenomenal amount of people that are going to turn up to watch our great team play and for that I'm grateful. It will have a bit of a different feel because we've had it all our way in recent weeks in terms of our performance levels and attempts on goal. This is a different level, really. It will have a big game feel in that we just need to keep winning. It doesn't matter who it is, we'll set out to absolutely go for it from the outset.

We need to go after Bolton and they will probably want to go after us. Last time we sort of cancelled each other out because we've got similar points, similar team of ability. It was a really close match last time and it will probably be a really close match this time too. Hopefully our home fans can give our lads the extra energy that they need to win.

On whether or not a similar game to the first is expected...

I don't want it to be but I'm possibly expecting it. We as a coaching staff and a group of players don't want to play chess. We will try and grab the game from the outset, however, Bolton have spent the entire week doing the same thing. Hopefully - and I say this with the upmost respect - the best team wins. Both teams have been defensively reasonably solid in recent weeks and I just think in those magic moments, you just need your best players to stand up. There may not be many moments but we just have to take them.