Derby County manager Paul Warne praises his players' resilliance ahead of trip to Lincoln City

This weekend, Paul Warne's Derby County make the relativley short trip to Lincoln as they face a Lincoln City side who are desperate for a win.

The Imps haven't won in seven games and have slid down the table to 12th place in League One.

Meanwhile, the Rams have won 10 games in 12 and sit in third place, just one point off the top of the league.

With a win against Lincoln, assuming other results go their way, Derby could be at the top of the league for the first time this season by the end of the weekend.

Rams boss Paul Warne praised his players ahead of the trip to Lincoln and says that their resilliance helped them to three points in their 3-2 win over Burton Albion on Monday night.

Speaking to Rams TV, he said: "I thought we had good control of the game and our own decision making sort of caused our own problems. To win it, though, was great and winning it late on felt good.

"In fairness to Burton, they only had two good chances and took them both, so hats off to them for their finishing. I thought we edged it and it would have been a game where we left the stadium feeling like it was two points thrown away if we didn't manage to find a winner."

They can make it three league wins in row this weekend against Lincoln, being one of the hottest teams in League One, Derby will be feeling confident of a win.

Warne added: "It's testament to the coaches and players that the lads really dig in and have a real belief. It's a real driving force that the lads believe they are going to win, because they never give up."

Furthemore, Derby County have scored the second-most goals in League One up to this point. They have scored more than one goal in four of their past five league games, including six goals in their last two.

Many of these have come late on in games to give the Rams three points, somthing that Paul Warne thinks shows his players determination. He said: "You can't give up. No matter what the scoreline is, you are not out of the game.

"The next goal always matters. When we conceded early on against Oxford a few weeks ago, there was still plenty of time left and I told the lads not to panic.

"I don't think they did panic the other night, either. To get late goals is good, it's probably more exciting for the neutral than the management team!"

This weekend, they face Lincoln City, a side that Paul Warne says are always tricky to overcome. However, the Derby boss seems confident in his players' preparation for the trip.

He added: "They are really well organised and difficult to break down, no matter what the system is. If we're going to win another match away from home then we have to be at our very best and only that will do.

"We will try and work out the best system with the best players and, as always, go on the front foot. We will go to Lincoln and try to win. We aren't going to sit behind the ball, we aren't going for a point, we are going there for the full lot and that's what we will prepare the lads for."

Derby County vs Lincoln City kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 20 January.