Keane Focused On Derby

The Pride Park clash comes after on-loan Manchester United man Keane’s headed goal helped City secure a point away at league leaders Cardiff on Tuesday night, but it was a performance that deserved much more.

Bluebirds substitute Rudy Gestede headed the equaliser deep into stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw for the hosts, but with a trip to East Midlands rivals Derby on the horizon, the 20-year-old is fully focused on returning to winning ways.

“It’s massive for the fans,” said Keane, speaking after attending a Show Racism the Red Card event at King Power Stadium on Thursday.

“Obviously it’s not too far and we treat every game the same, but this maybe more than others is becoming a must-win game for us and we’ll be looking for three points and to not do what we did against Cardiff and keep the back door shut.

“I thought the team played brilliantly [against Cardiff] all through the game, we coped with their threats and managed to get the goal which we thoroughly deserved. But after that goal in the last minute everyone was so gutted, it put a real downer on the day but we can’t dwell on it, we have to move on.”

Despite the late goal, there were plenty of positives to take from an excellent City display on Tuesday night, not least Keane’s third goal for the club in the 72nd minute from a powerful header.

Keane added: “We’ve always known we are capable of playing like that and I think their pitch helped us because it was a really nice surface, and we could pass the ball the way we liked to. We kept it well for periods because we’d worked on it all week in training. I think definitely the good pitch helped us out.

“It was an experience for me, not a good one, but it’s all experiences and I’m sure it will help me in the future. We have to concentrate right until the very end as a few slips ups have cost us two points against Cardiff.

“The manager was gutted the same as the players, he was gutted for us really. But he knows we have to move on from that game and we’ll be working on the Derby game now. We’ve put Cardiff behind us.”