Derby County star makes 'effort' demand as Sunderland deepen gloom
Derby County goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom has the belief his side can turn their season around following a 1-0 defeat at home to high-flying Sunderland.
The Rams suffered their fifth defeat in a row in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday night, denying Paul Warne's side the chance to steer clear of the relegation zone. They now find themselves in 20th place, just one point off the bottom three, but could sink lower with both Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle in action on Wednesday.
Although Derby were missing a number of key players for the game against the Black Cats, there were positives to take either side of Elezier Mayenda's game-winning goal just shy of the half-hour mark. One of them being debutant Lars-Jorgen Salvesen, who arrived to Pride Park from Viking FK last week and could have scored twice.
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The hosts dominated much of an extremely promising second-half, but could not find the equaliser they so desperately needed. But it was that performance in the second 45 that has Zetterstrom convinced.
Speaking to RamsTV following the game, the Swedish shot-stopper said: "You have to look at [the fact] we have 18 more games to play this season, and we have to go into every single game with the same mentality as we did in the second-half. I am sure there is not a single soul in that dressing room that doesn't know how well we can play as a team if we put in the effort.
"I am very very certain that we can have a very fun spring together because we all know how much talent we have."
Games come thick and fast in the English second-tier, and not many more important than Derby's trip to South Wales against fellow-strugglers Cardiff City next on Saturday. Just one point separates the two sides, so a carbon copy of the Rams' second-half performance against Sunderland is needed throughout the entire 90 minutes in this huge game.
