Curtis Davies admits Derby County’s players are eager to return to match action following the two-week international break.
Following a two-week gap without a fixture, Derby will resume their 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship games programme with a home clash against Hull City on Friday evening (7:45pm kick-off).
The Rams went into the first international window of the season off the back of a 3-1 loss at Sheffield United at the end of August.
Defender Davies insists that the squad are determined to bounce back from that defeat, which followed a run of three successive wins in all competitions.
As the Rams prepare to do battle with the Tigers at Pride Park Stadium, the 32-year-old has spoken of the importance of coming out of the traps firing.
He told Hull City edition of The Ram: “It wasn’t the ideal way to go into the international break, of course.
“When we lost against Wolves back in August we had the Preston game a few days later to show an immediate response.
“From that, we took the confidence on and went on to win at Bolton and Grimsby – so it was disappointing to go into the break off the back of a loss and we’ve had two weeks to wait for our next match.
“It wasn’t the defeat that hurt so much at Sheffield United, it was the performance and the fact we didn’t make a fist of it.”
He added: “We need to look forward and at the upcoming games as they continue to come thick and fast.
“We worked hard during the international break on what the manager wanted us to do and now we have to make sure we come out firing against Hull and get back on track so to speak.”
Davies joined Derby from Hull back in June for an undisclosed fee as he sought a new challenge in his career.
The vastly-experienced centre-back is relishing the prospect of facing his old club for the first time.
However, following a number of changes to the playing squad at the KCOM Stadium in the last few months, there are only a handful of familiar faces that he could be coming up against.
He said: “I think more often than not it is a big decision to leave any football club. Regardless of the ups and downs we had during my time there, I enjoyed every single second and as footballer you have to take the rough with the smooth.
“Everyone made it easy to be at that club and enjoy it – but at the same time that was one of the reasons that I felt I needed to step away and take on a fresh challenge here at Derby.
“As much as it wasn’t an easy decision, given I had some of the best times of my career at Hull, I felt it was the right one to come and join Derby County.”
You can read more from Curtis Davies by purchasing a copy of The Ram at Pride Park Stadium for the game against Hull City for just £3.
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