Interim Derby County boss Wayne Rooney believes his side have a “great chance” of beating Coventry City if they can replicate their first-half performance against Wycombe.
The Rams face the Sky Blues on Tuesday night looking to climb off the foot of the Championship table in what has been a dreadful start to the campaign at Pride Park.
Rooney is currently handling team selection as the club hunts for a successor to Phillip Cocu who left the club earlier this month by mutual consent.
And he was denied a crucial win in his first game in the dugout on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Wycombe despite taking a first-half lead through Duane Holmes.
But the former England star says he saw enough in their opening 45 minutes that if they can repeat for the full 90 against Mark Robins’ side, they can secure only their second win of the campaign.
He said: “There’s a lot of games to go.
“We know that we’re not in a position we want to be, but that’s where we’re at. As I said, we have to build on today. It’s a point, it’s obviously better than none and I think if we perform on Tuesday (against Coventry City) how we did in the first half then we’ll give ourselves a great chance of winning the game.”
Coventry go into the game on the back of a terrific 1-1 draw at promotion-chasing Norwich which saw Max Biamou strike a last-minute equaliser in what was one of their best results of the season so far.
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And reflecting on the clash, Robins felt his side could have even won it.
“We’ve hit the post and created a good number of opportunities by getting in on goal. We still pass the ball backwards when it’s better to go forwards and put them under pressure,” he said.
“They have a really good press because they have a German coach, and that’s what they do. They pride themselves on their pressing and it allows them to come down the pitch after you.”
