Sonny Bradley has explained the ‘good news’ that will give Derby County a ‘real chance’ at winning promotion to the Championship.
Derby County currently sit in second place in League One, but two defeats in their last three games have left them seven points behind leaders Portsmouth.
They also sit level on points with Bolton Wanderers, so a single defeat could potentially drag them down into the playoff positions.
After failing to even finish in the top six last season, the Rams will want to have their promotion wrapped up by the final day of the campaign and avoid having to take to Wembley to have any chance at returning to the second tier.
However, Sonny Bradley believes recent good news regarding five players could now give them a ‘real chance’ at promotion.
Speaking to Derbyshire Live, the defender said: “A lot can change, but I feel really good. I feel fit, the fittest I’ve been all season,” he said. “We’ve got players coming back. Wags (Martyn Waghorn) is back, I saw Wash (Conor Washington) out on the grass recently, Dwight (Gayle) scored his first goal, there’s good news about Collo (James Collins) potentially.
“Conor (Hourihane) has come back and we could have a fully fit squad soon. Obviously, there’s not been good news about Ryan (Nyambe) but I don’t know how bad it is.
“He was on crutches in the week which didn’t look good. But apart from that we are fit, we are hungry and everything we said at the start of the season, about our ambitions of going up, we feel good and I feel like we have a real chance.”
Can James Collins still help Derby County win promotion?
Derby County have done pretty well considering the amount of injuries they have had this season, while the return of James Collins could be pivotal.
Paul Warne has confirmed that the striker could be back in action by the end of March, meaning he could potentially make his return in the top of the table clash against Portsmouth next month.
Dwight Gayle certainly feels like a reliable replacement in the mean time, but to have them both available for the final month or so of the campaign will give them a massive boost and could well be the difference between automatic promotion and the playoffs.