Eddie Gray has insisted that Leeds United beating Derby County this evening would send a message to the rest of the teams in the Championship that the Whites are still in the running for a top six finish.
Paul Heckingbottom’s team, who drew 2-2 with Bristol City last Sunday at Elland Road, despite falling two goals behind, presently find themselves in 12th spot in the league table with 45 points from 32 games, eight points behind the playoff spots.
In spite of Leeds earning a creditable draw against the Robins, Gray still thinks it was two points dropped at home.
As a result, the 70-year-old feels the game against Derby is now more important as Leeds have to come home with a positive result from Pride Park to make up for their dropped points at Elland Road.
And Gray went on to add that he believes a win at Derby would show the other teams in the division that the Yorkshire giants are still in the hunt for a playoff spot.
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“Hopefully we can upset Derby County because if we pick three points up there, it sends a message out to the rest of the teams in league that we are still in the hunt”, he said on LUTV.
“We have to try and bounce back [from the draw against Bristol City].
“The players did well in the second half on Sunday, but as I have said earlier, we still dropped two points at home.
“Before the game we were saying that we can’t afford to drop points at home with the position we are in now.
“So that makes the Derby County game even more important.
“If we can go there and pick the three points, it would be a tremendous achievement.
“But it will be a tough game.”
Leeds are winless in their last eight Championship games, losing five of those.
