Town visit Derby County over Saturday lunchtime looking to return to winning ways at Pride Park, a ground which has been a very happy hunting ground over the years.

The Blues, who followed up the 3-1 defeat at Sheffield United with a frustrating 1-1 home draw with Preston last weekend, are down to fourth in the table having been denied an opportunity to climb back ahead of Hull City by Tuesday’s game at Portsmouth being postponed for a second time, on this occasion due to a frozen pitch.

Town’s away form, they have won only one of their last six on the road, is significantly poorer than their displays at home over the course of the season, the Blues currently sitting 14th in a table based only on away results, despite having beaten leaders 2-0 Coventry in their most recent trip prior to the defeat at Bramall Lane. After tomorrow, they face another three away games in a row, at Wrexham in both the FA Cup and Championship and at Watford, also in the league.

The Blues’ record at Pride Park is remarkable in the years since the Rams moved from the Baseball Ground, having won 10, drawn six and lost only three of their 19 games at the Rams’ current home stretching back to their first visit in May 2001 when they visited in with a shout of a place in the Champions League and drew 1-1.

McKenna has managed only one of those matches, the 2-0 victory on the way to promotion from League One in April 2023.

“It was a brilliant run for the football club,” McKenna recalled. “One that you don’t live too often probably in your life of a football supporter or as a staff member.

“It was a really good game, I remember it as a really tough game. We scored a brilliant goal on the counter-attack from a corner.

“We had to dig in a lot and it was a great finish from George [Hirst] at the end after a really good run from Wes [Burns].

“It was a really good day for us. Great memories but no real impact on tomorrow. Hopefully the players who were involved can take that into tomorrow but it is a new team and I’m not sure if there are any players from their team who played in that game. But it is a ground where I have got good memories.”

Derby are currently seventh in the Championship, three places and six points behind the Blues having played a game more.

The Rams are unbeaten in four, three wins and a 1-1 draw at home to West Brom prior to last weekend’s 5-0 thrashing of Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

Derby have picked up only 18 of their 45 points at Pride Park and as a result are 20th in Championship table based only on home form having won four, draw six and lost five.

Only five teams have scored fewer goals than the Rams’ 18 at home and only three have conceded more than their total of 21 on their own turf.

In contrast, no one in the division has taken more points on their travels than the Rams’ 27.

Early in the season they drew 2-2 at Portman Road at a time when the Blues’ squad was still being assembled, an encounter McKenna described at the time as “the most broken, lowest ball-in-play game that I’ve been involved in. It was barely a football match”.

Asked whether he is anticipating a different sort of fixture this time around with the Rams at home and in decent form, McKenna said: “Let’s see what the game brings. There are so many games in the Championship, maybe this season in particular, are that way.

“I’ve spoken before about us knowing what the challenge of that is and certain things that are in vogue at the moment make it really hard for a game to flow to the extent that we know certain teams would want it to or sometimes as a spectacle.

“But that’s a challenge and we know we are going to face a really strong team tomorrow, whichever way they go about it.

“They are a really strong opponent with a good manager [John Eustace] and really good, experienced strong players and we have to be ready for a big battle and a tough game.

“That’s what we have focused on in the couple of days since we drove back from Portsmouth. That’s what we are getting ready for on Saturday morning.”

He added: “I think they were a strong team then [in August], a strong team now. They had quite a lot of new faces over the summer, so they were probably still bedding in.

“They’ve added in January again well and they are in good form and played really well in the last game against Bristol City.

“It’s going to be a tough opponent so it makes for a really tough game. We travel up there for an early kick-off so we know we have to be ready.”

Asked whether last week’s hammering of the Robins was down to Derby being particularly good or it being an off-day for the West Country side, McKenna said: “It’s hard to say on some of those things unless you are in both camps. You don’t know what’s going on in the build-up in both camps.

“To be fair, Derby were really ruthless and efficient on the day. They counter-attacked well and attacked with real pace and purpose, and Bristol City weren’t able to find the answers.

“As usual in a Championship game, it was still tight in some aspects and Bristol City still had their moments. If certain situations had gone a little differently for them, it could have been a different game.

“But it was a game where Derby certainly showed their strength, their form and where they are at.

“We’ve looked at that and we know what we are going to have to stand up to and do well. But we also must focus on ourselves and believe in our strengths and bring them tomorrow.”

Every EFL fixture this weekend will kick off one minute later as part of the Every Minute Matters campaign from Sky Bet and The British Heart Foundation, marking Heart Month.

Elsewhere, leaders Coventry, now ahead of Middlesbrough on goal different alone, host Oxford United while third-placed Hull City are at home to Bristol City, both 3.01pm kick-offs, while the Teessiders are at Sheffield United on Monday evening.

The Team

Despite the disappointing result agains Preston, the team is unlikely to see too many changes with the midweek match at Portsmouth having been postponed and neither Jaden Philogene nor Marcelino Nunez back from injury, although McKenna revealed one unnamed player would be assessed on Friday morning due to a new knock.

Christian Walton will be in goal with the back four likely to be Darnell Furlong, skipper Dara O’Shea, Cedric Kipre and Leif Davis.

Azor Matusiwa, who has now gone 10 games without picking up the 10th booking which would lead to a two-match ban, will continue in midfield with Jack Taylor perhaps alongside him, although with new signing Dan Neil and Jens Cajuste alternative options.

Ahead of them, Wes Burns may well be on the right with Anis Mehmeti and 12-goal top scorer Jack Clarke set to continue as the number 10 and on the left respectively.

McKenna will have to choose between George Hirst and Ivan Azon as the number nine with the Scotland international perhaps getting the nod.

The Opposition

Derby are still without 10-goal top scorer Carlton Morris, who is back in training but not yet ready for a return to action having been out since November due to a leg injury.

Jacob Widell Zetterstrom (illness) and Sondre Langas (hamstring) will also be absent, while right-back Max Johnston (also hamstring) has been out of action since October.

In addition to the loan of Blues forward Sammie Szmodics, unavailable against his parent club, the Rams added FC Utrecht left-back Derry Murkin to their squad on deadline day, while attacker Andi Weimann moved home to Austrian Bundesliga side SK Rapid Wien on loan.

Earlier in the window, Derby recruited Dion Sanderson (Birmingham City, permanent following a loan), Oscar Fraulo (Borussia Monchengladbach) and Jaydon Banel (Burnley, loan).

Former Blues forward Kayden Jackson, who joined hometown club Bradford, was among those to depart along with Ryan Nyambe (Reading, loan), Corey Blackett-Taylor (Bolton, loan), Curtis Nelson (MK Dons), Ebou Adams (Portsmouth) and Jake Rooney (Boston United, loan) also making their exits.

Manager Eustace hopes his team can take the momentum from their away win at Bristol City into their home game against the Blues, who he believes as as good as anyone in the division.

“We’ve just got to keep working hard and keep believing in what we’re doing. We’re coming up against probably the best team in the league - the best squad and a fantastic manager,” he said.

“We know it’s going to be a really difficult task. But it’s another opportunity to showcase ourselves and for the players to express themselves.”

History

Historically, Town have had the better of Derby, winning 38 games (36 in the league), drawing 23 (21) and losing 29 (28).

In addition to their strong Pride Park record, Town are currently unbeaten in four against the Rams, two wins and two draws with their most recent defeat a 2-0 loss at Pride Park in August 2018 under Paul Hurst.

At Portman Road at the end of August, Jack Clarke’s 106th-minute penalty claimed a point for the Blues as the teams drew 2-2.

Jacob Greaves’s first goal at Portman Road put Town ahead on 33 with the Blues very much on top before the break.

But a Morris penalty five minutes after the restart changed the game and, after Town were denied a blatant spot-kick of their own when Hirst was fouled, the Rams went ahead through Rhian Brewster on 70, before sub Clarke netted Town’s penalty, awarded for a foul on Taylor, deep in injury time.

The teams last met at Pride Park in April 2023 when the Blues moved to within two points of the top of League One after a 2-0 victory, their seventh successive win and their eighth clean sheet in a row.

Conor Chaplin gave Town the lead with his 20th goal of the season in the 17th minute and Hirst smashed his third in three games to seal the win 14 minutes from time.

Familiar Faces

Midfielder Lewis Travis joined Derby in the summer from Blackburn having spent time on loan with the Blues in the second half of 2023/24 and helping Town to the Championship title.

Central defender Matt Clarke came through the academy ranks at Playford Road and went on to make one senior start and four sub appearance before moving on to Portsmouth, where he had spent the previous season on loan, in June 2016 as part of the deal which saw Adam Webster move in the opposite direction. Barham-born Clarke joined Derby from Middlesbrough in January 2025.

Left-back Callum Elder was on loan with the Blues in the second half of 2018/19, making four starts and one sub appearance.

Blues forward Szmodics joined Derby on loan in the closing minutes of the transfer window earlier this week but is ineligible against his parent club.

Town were interested in Rams’ striker Patrick Agyemang in the summer prior to his move to Pride Park from MLS side Charlotte FC.

Officials

Saturday’s referee is Josh Smith, his assistants Jacob Graham and Daniel Leach, and the fourth official Ben Toner.

Peterborough-based Smith has shown 69 yellow cards and two red in 20 games so far this season.

Smith’s most recent Town match was the 1-0 victory over West Brom in October in which he booked Hirst and one of the visitors.

Prior to that, his last visit to Suffolk was for the 2-1 friendly defeat to Fortuna Düsseldorf in July 2024.

Smith was also the man in the middle for the 2-0 victory at Plymouth in March 2024 in which he yellow-carded Chaplin, Jeremy Sarmiento, then-Blues loanee Travis and one Pilgrim.

By that point, he had already taken charge of five Town matches during 2023/24, the 1-1 draw at Leicester just over a month prior to the trip to Home Park in which he booked Harry Clarke, Massimo Luongo and Travis again.

He also refereed the 2-2 derby draw at home to Norwich City just before Christmas 2023 in which he booked only Luke Woolfenden and Sam Morsy. Both Canaries goals were subsequently shown to be offside, however, the errors were the assistants’ fault rather than down to Smith himself.

Prior to that, he took control of the 1-0 win at Bristol City at the end of October that year in which he yellow-carded Davis, Morsy, Hirst and Jackson.

Earlier in the season, Smith was in the middle for the 1-0 win at Southampton, in which he cautioned Brandon Williams and Jack Taylor.

Smith was also the man in the middle for the 2-0 home victory over Stoke City in which he yellow-carded Morsy, Vaclav Hladky, Janoi Donacien and one of the visitors.

In the previous campaign, the 2022/23 League One promotion season, he refereed the 4-4 draw at Charlton in October 2022 in which he booked nine players - Morsy, Walton, Burns, Dominic Ball, Tyreece John-Jules and four Addicks - as well as sending off home manager Ben Garner for taking his protests too far following the Blues’ second goal.

Before that, he was in charge of the 4-0 win at Portsmouth in October 2021 in which he cautioned Morsy, George Edmundson and two home players, one of them Marcus Harness.

Smith was also in control of the 2-2 home draw with the MK Dons in August 2021 in which he yellow-carded Woolfenden, Kane Vincent-Young and one visiting player.

His only other Town match was the 2-1 EFL Trophy defeat away at Exeter in January 2020 in which he again booked Woolfenden, as well as Toto Nsiala, Will Keane and one Grecian.

Squad From

Walton, Palmer, Button, Furlong, Johnson, Davis, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Kipre, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Neil, Taylor, Clarke, Walle Egeli, Burns, McAteer, Mehmeti, Akpom, Hirst, Azon.

Photo: TWTD