Derby County assistant manager full of "confidence" ahead of Bristol Rovers trip

Derby County will be delighted after they bounced back from two losses in a row with a 3-0 win over Port Vale on Saturday.

This week, they have been preparing for a tough test against an 11th placed Bristol Rovers side who have won three of their last four games.

The Rams are in third place, just one point from the automatic promotion places and one of their biggest promotion rivals Bolton.

Ahead of Saturday's game, Paul Warne's right hand man Richie Barker spoke to Rams TV about how the team are feeling with 10 games to go.

He said: "We all know that every point is going to be important now. There are a lot of twists and turns to come and what we can do is just look after ourselves.

"I'm looking forward to the run-in but there will be ups and downs and I think it may go to the last day."

Barker has been alongside Warne since he joined the Rams in September 2022 and plays a big part in the team's preparation behind the scenes.

He says that once you get to a close run-in, things are done very differently to during a normal week. He said: "We will certainly be training less. You also have to be aware that if anyone picks up an injury for three or four weeks then it's pretty much their season over.

"It's just about keeping them sharp, keeping their brains sharp and keeping them tactically sharp. It will be over before we know it, so we just have to monitor them all and make sure they are ready for the game."

This week, the Rams have been preparing for a trip to Bristol Rovers, a fixture that contributed to the Rams missing out on the playoffs last season, as they conceded a late equaliser and so dropped two points.

Barker shared the importance of good preparation and knows exactly how tough it could be. He added: "It has been an important week.

"We very rarely get to work on individuals and in units, so that's been quite useful and to also to give the lads a bit of the mental downtime.

"They (Bristol Rovers) have had a decent run over the last few weeks. It's always a difficult place to go. It's a stadium I really enjoy going to, because it's old school.

"They have some good players but on the road over the last few months we've been relatively successful and we need to try and continue that."