Central defender Matt Clarke knows Derby County need to keep improving if they are to climb the Sky Bet Championship table as they face a trip to Rotherham United on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
The Rams extended their unbeaten run to six games in the league on Wednesday night with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Swansea City at Pride Park Stadium.
Colin Kazim-Richards and Kamil Jozwiak scored first half goals for the Rams, who earned their first win at home this season in the process.
And the clean sheet also ensured the Rams stretched their spell without conceding a goal to over 360 minutes of football.
Clarke is part of that solid backline which has seen Derby only concede one shot on target to the opposition in those four games and he knows the side need to continue their good form to climb the table.
“As a defence we feel like we defended well for the majority of the games and it was just odd individual errors that cost us, or just a bit of bad fortune or whatever it may be,” Clarke told RamsTV.
“There has been a change from defending well for parts to then going and getting the clean sheets, so it’s a nice change.
“It’s a whole team effort, just like when we have come in here and spoken about scoring goals – that’s a team effort too. Clean sheets and defending is a team effort as well. It’s not us defenders giving ourselves a pat on the back, it is a whole collective thing.”
The Rams face a short journey to the New York Stadium this weekend to face Paul Warne’s Rotherham side who sit level on points with the Rams.
Both sides have 16 points so far this season, and despite Derby’s good run of form of late, Clarke has warned against complacency.
“As soon as you start feeling that, you get brought back down to reality so it’s our job to recognise that we have done some good things, but there is no time to congratulate ourselves yet – we’ve got a long way to go,” he said.
“There has been a belief throughout the whole period. We felt like a performance like that on Wednesday was always coming; the signs were there and it was coming. It was pleasing to go and do it and now our job is to go and build on that.”
A win for Derby would move them out of the relegation zone at the expense of Rotherham and Clarke feels psychologically that could make a good impact.
“There is a lot of football to be played, a lot of points to be played for so ultimately it’s how you’re playing and how you’re going about your job,” he commented.
“That’s the main thing – if you get that right you are going to be fine. It’s not a case of we have to count points up at this stage, but psychologically it would be nice to start looking up the table rather than seeing where we are at the moment.”
