Derby County Rams vs Cardiff City at Pride Park StadiumRichard KeoghDERBY County skipper Richard Keogh is hopeful of another result against a cash-rich Championship side this weekend.
The Rams face Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday looking to build on the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.
Both opponents have had significant foreign investment recently, but Keogh says that at Pride Park, he and his team-mates “don’t fear anyone”.
He said: “I think it’d be good for the club to have a bit of a run in the cup.
“Obviously Blackburn are a good side, but we got a home draw, which is what you want, and so we go into it full of confidence.
“Hopefully we can get through.
“We’ve played them at home already this season and I thought we played really well in that game (a 1-1 draw at Pride Park).
“We definitely deserved at least a point as Tinksy (Theo Robinson) scored a good goal.
“But we know what to expect from them – they’ve had heavy investment.
“Our home record is very good, and we don’t fear anyone at home.
“We look forward to it and hopefully we can get a good result.”
Rovers are on their third manager of the season, having already sacked Steve Kean and Henning Berg, with Michael Appleton - himself in his third job of the campaign - the man currently at the helm.
Keough said: “He (Appleton) is highly regarded in football, given the jobs he’s got in a short space of time.
“I played against his Portsmouth side last season and they were a good team.
“I think they’ve got a bit of stability now that they’ve got their man.
“It’s going to be a tough job for him because they want success but he’s a bright coach so hopefully he can have a better result after the weekend.”
Keogh has had some experience of a cup run, having been part of the Bristol CIty side who beat then Championship side Coventry City (Keogh’s future employers) in 2007.
He said: “We got to the fifth round with Bristol and lost to Middlesbrough on penalties after a replay at the Riverside.
“The FA Cup is a special competition and no matter what it is, I think everybody gets a good vibe from it.
“There’s been a few upsets already, and hopefully if we can get past Blackburn, we can get a good tie and progress.
“It’s been done before (a Championship side reaching the final) by Cardiff and people like that, so who knows?
“You never know, if you get a kind draw, what is going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Keogh believes that a point apiece was a fair reflection on Saturday’s East Midlands derby.
After Derby dominated the opening exchanges, Forest opened the scoring through Chris Cohen, but Jamie Ward equalised early in the second half, and the Rams held on for a draw.
Keogh said: “Looking back on the chances for both teams I think a draw is a fair result.
“I thought their goal was a bit harsh on us, as there were a couple of lucky ricochets in there and it fell beautifully for them.
“The goal came as a bit of a sucker-punch, and I don’t think we deserved to go into the break 1-0 down.
“But we showed good character and we scored a good goal, which I think summed up what we’re about.
“Sammy (Conor Sammon) nicked the ball off their guy and slipped Wardy in, and he showed why he’s back in the team – he’s a great finisher.
“I thought we could have scored a couple – Jeff (Hendrick) went through and had a shot saved and also got brought down, and OB (Mark O’Brien) had a header just over.
“We were the team in the ascendency.
“It got a bit scrappy in the end as these game do but we defended well at the end and it’s a point.
“We made sure we didn’t lose the game, which was important.”
Keogh and fellow centre-half Mark O’Brien had their hands full with Reds frontmen Billy Sharp and Simon Cox, and had to defend bravely in the final 10 minutes to prevent their opponents stealing victory.
On Cox and Sharp, Keogh said: “I don’t think you’ll find a better strike pairing, and they’ve got Dexter Blackstock coming off the bench as well.
“We knew it was going to be tough but I thought we dealt with it quite well.
“Cox hit the bar in the second half but apart from that I thought we defended well as a team and limited them to half chances – nothing clear-cut.”
The draw extended Derby’s unbeaten run against their bitter rivals to four games, and Keogh was pleased to retain the Brian Clough Trophy in front of a capacity Pride Park crowd.
He said: “The atmosphere was great, as were the fans, and they really drove us on.
“These kind of games are exactly what you want to be doing as a professional and we want more like this.
“It’s been good for the club to be unbeaten recently, and to take four points off Forest with all their investment they’ve made is credit to the guys.”
