Pre-Match Thoughts: 'We Know We Have To Put It Right This Weekend' - Wilson

Defender Kane Wilson says Derby County's players know they 'have to put it right this weekend' when they take on Port Vale in Sky Bet League One at Pride Park Stadium (3pm kick-off).

The Rams' 2-1 home loss to Charlton Athletic in midweek made it back-to-back defeats for the first time in league action during the 2023/24 season, having gone down 2-1 at Barnsley last Saturday, and Wilson says the only way to respond is by giving their all to pick up three points against the Valiants.

Wilson sat down with RamsTV to preview this weekend's clash against Darren Moore's side.

On how the team can respond this weekend...

By winning, it's the only option. It's not been great from all of us, really, myself included. It's not what we want, it's not what we set out to do, but we have to put it right this weekend.

On taking the lead and losing the last two...

It's just been a little bit of everything, really, as to why it has happened. Individual mistakes have obviously played a part. For example, on Tuesday night we gave the penalty away and then myself and Ebou got mixed up for the winner. It's just little things that we can cut out and, if we can do that, we can start getting back to where we were. It's the business-end of the season now, so this is where we're supposed to put our foot down and not take it off.

On having experience of being at the top end of the table during Forest Green Rovers' 2021/22 promotion season...

It's similar to the situation we're in. We're in second and teams are trying to chase us. We've got so much quality here and so much experience that we can start pushing on now. It is important that we don't fear anything, we focus on ourselves.

On helping get Ebou Adams to Pride Park in January...

I said to the gaffer that we should definitely get him here! He also played with Curtis Nelson and Collo a little bit at Cardiff City, but we were really close at Forest Green and have been friends ever since. I'm glad he's settled in so well because he's such a good guy and deserves it.

On being close with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing...

We get on really well. I knew he was from Birmingham, but our paths had never crossed. He's an older professional so he takes me under his wing ! He's been really good for me, he's set an example that I would love to follow. He's got so many good attributes and if I could maybe take some of his and take them to my game then maybe I could do some of the things he does.

On his nickname, 'The Buffalo'...

It was Conor Washington that came up with it. He said that I play like a buffalo when I run past people but I like it, it's good. It's stuck to be honest now!