Thu 21 Aug - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 4mins
Callum Elder is excited to return to the Pride Park Stadium atmosphere as Derby County look to secure their first 2025/26 Sky Bet Championship points on the board when they face Bristol City on Friday night (8pm kick-off).
The left-back opened his goalscoring account for the Rams, after signing in the summer of 2023, on home soil when he levelled the Sky Bet Championship clash against Coventry City to 1-1 with a superb free-kick from a tight angle in the first half last Saturday.
The goal came in a back-and-forth contest at Pride Park, with visitors Coventry coming out as 5-3 winners - meaning the Rams are still aiming to notch their first league win of the season when they meet the Robins in the third match of 2025/26 on Friday night.
Elder caught up with RamsTV to discuss his first goal for the club and look ahead to Friday night football at Pride Park Stadium.
I was delighted to score my first goal. It was a really special moment for me, especially to score my first goal for the club at Pride Park. It was an amazing atmosphere on Saturday. We couldn't see the game through, which is the most disappointing part.
We've analysed the game and I think the most disappointing thing is that we haven't reached the standards that we've set for ourselves in the last seven months in terms of dealing with situations when the pressure is on us, and that's something that we'll certainly look to rectify moving forward.
We're always looking to deal with situations as best we can. We've got players in the team that can score goals, create moments and be strong on-set plays, which we've shown in both games and in the midweek cup game.
We know that the confidence is there in terms of dealing with situations where we can take the lead in football matches but, on the flip side, we need to show more character when our backs are against the wall, and we have to deal with situations when it's not going our way. We've analysed them in detail over the last couple of days, and as we move forward to Friday's game. It's something that we're certainly looking to put right.
It's been a big change. There's been a lot of new signings. I feel like everyone has integrated into the squad really well. The staff are big on signing good characters and that will also improve the quality of the squad. I believe it's a really good dressing room to come into. We'll always make the new lads feel welcome. They're certainly giving their all on and off the pitch to become valuable members of the squad. We are delighted to have the new boys on board.
I think there is an element of that (patience). However, when you talk about the things that have gone wrong in the first two games of the season, I don't think there's patience for that because the standards that we've set in the last seven months for ourselves got us out of difficult situations last season when we needed them to.
We all feel that they should be the foundation moving forward in terms of us and our identity as a squad. Over the last couple of weeks, at key moments, we've slipped from that. In those moments we need to show more character to deal with threats that come into the game, we certainly need to be better moving forward.
It's an excellent fixture. Friday night, back at Pride Park - we know that the atmosphere will be crazy. The fans will be right behind us. We've gone back to the training ground this week and looked to rectify the things from the first two games that we know we can be better at. We'll be on the front foot on Friday, looking to get our first Championship win of the season.
Pride Park Stadium
Middlesbrough
Hull City
Wrexham
Derby County
Norwich City
Birmingham City
Swansea City
Bristol City
