Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne believes his side will have to be at their very best to be successful against a 'perennial promotion contender' in Barnsley on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Derby go into the game at Pride Park Stadium knowing a victory will take them level on points with The Tykes, who were beaten by Sheffield Wednesday in last season's Sky Bet League One Play-Off Final, and could see them jump into the top six.
The Head Coach spoke to RamsTV on Thursday morning to preview the game on home soil.
On Wednesday evening's 4-1 Bristol Street Motors Trophy victory over Wolves Under-21s...
I was really pleased with the performance. It's always a juggling act when you've got so many games in such a short period of time. It was nice to see all the young lads play and do well.
I didn't think we were amazing in the first half, but a lot better in the second half. We changed the shape of the side and played 3-5-2. That was because I was trying to put loads of people in the right sort of positions and put the strongest team out that we could out.
All in all, I was really pleased. We scored goals. I was disappointed Josh Vickers didn't get a clean-sheet but, apart from that, it was mission accomplished.
On the young players...
I thought all the young lads did well with six making their debuts and a few making their first starts too. I knew they would do well because they've trained with us quite a bit. They are great players and the Academy should take all the plaudits for that.
I always knew Tony Weston would be 'ledge' because he's the epitome of a packet of crisps on a windy day! His energy and desire to get around the pitch goes a long way. Adebayo Fapetu in midfield was really good. Any kid that wants to shoot from 40-yards out on his debut is pretty impressive! Those two were my highlights.
All in all, I came away really pleased and it's really good because the Academy got fleeced of a lot of the top talent (when the club was in Administration) and they are trying to rebuild.
On James Collins' hat-trick...
Collo has scored over 200 goals in his career so he's used to scoring. It was really good for him and it's great for goalscorers to score goals. I was buzzing with his header for the second goal and his third was excellent too.
The good thing about the senior players here is I asked them to help the young lads out and they were excellent at that.
On the home form turning around...
There's no issue with playing at home for us and there's no issue playing away from home. It's just sometimes you don't get the first goal or whatever the case may be. At home, the lads are confident and they always have been.
We had a couple of poor performances early on, but we've had a couple of poor performances away from home of late and that's why I always try and stay constant. Sometimes there isn't a great deal of difference between our winning performances and our losing performances.
We've been scoring a bit recently, although possibly still not enough. We still should have scored more against Northampton Town, when we got four, and still should have scored more against Exeter City when we gott wo. We are going to have to have our scoring boots on at the weekend if we are going to win against Barnsley.
On Barnsley...
I've seen them play twice live this year and in fairness to them they are the perennial promotion or play-off team every season they are in League One. Anyone that wants to be successful in League One should look at their model and their way of collecting points. Whoever the manager is, they always seem to be in the top six.
We have a rough understanding of how they play. They have a DNA and so do we. We know what we have to try and do. It will be two good teams going head-to-head and if we win we will go on joint points with them, which would be good.
This time next week, we could be in the play-offs, through in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy and could be through to the Second Round in the FA Cup. We might not be, but that's what we're intending to do.
Barnsley have got goals throughout the team, they are aggressive and are probably a blueprint for a really good League One side.
