Sun 14 Dec - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 3mins
Dion Sanderson says he is relishing the jam-packed festive football calendar, as the Derby County defender prepares for the first of six Sky Bet Championship games in 21 days on Monday evening.
Beginning with a trip to Hillsborough to take on Sheffield Wednesday (8pm kick-off), Sanderson stated he and his Rams team-mates aren’t fearing the unrelenting schedule over the Christmas period.
The Birmingham City loanee will be hoping to kick off the run with a double celebration on Monday, as he bids to help the Rams to an eighth league win of the season while marking his 26th birthday.
Ahead of the clash with the Owls, Sanderson sat down with RamsTV to share his excitement at the upcoming schedule, as well as his thoughts on the fight shown to earn a late 1-1 draw against Millwall on Wednesday and the desire to build momentum heading into the New Year.
I think we prepare the same as if it was Saturday to Saturday fixtures. It's different days, obviously, but Monday is another game day and the boys are professional. They know how it goes, so it's nothing new.
We try to prepare right and get as much as we can done on the field, but our off-the-field work is really important too. After the games that we play, it's about watching them back as a team and going through what we can do better, so we can take it into the next match.
Then, it's just about rest and recovery. That is going to be important in terms of keeping yourself fit over the run of games that we've got, but it's all exciting.
Personally, I love it. I'm ready to go again for our next game. It's the same for all the other players.
I wouldn't say: ‘oh, I need a break or rest’. As soon as we finished that game against Millwall, there was a feeling of Monday can't come quickly enough. It's exciting for us.
We knew what type of game it was going to be; we were aware of that. I thought the boys put up a great fight, even though we went a goal down, which was very unfortunate. I think we showed great character to come back. The boys have always had that fight.
To take a point against a top Millwall side who are flying in the league, it was a good night.
There have been a few times in games, for example the Watford game when we went 2-0 up and they brought it back to 2-1, where us as players have to take more responsibility on the pitch of what the next five to ten minutes look like; just to get a bit of control in games.
We have got leaders in the team; we just need to show that more on the pitch. The Head Coach and staff can give us all the knowledge and the tactics, but as soon as we cross the white line, it's down to us. It's taking more responsibility and demonstrating leadership on the pitch, that’s what we’ve spoken about.
We've done it before; we've got no doubt we can do it again. I think that point against Millwall is very important and it's something that we can build on. The lads will be looking for that momentum and with lots of games coming up, it's going to be important.
It's about how we prepare for each game and how we're going to get the three points on the day.
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Hull City
Wrexham
Derby County
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