Derby County boss Wayne Rooney has told the club's official website that his team need to believe that they can stay in the Sky Bet Championship. 

The former Manchester United and England striker was speaking after seeing his side win 2-1 away to Stoke City last night, thanks to goals from Luke Plange and Colin Kazim-Richards at the Bet365 Stadium.

That result has seen the Rams cut the gap between them and the safety line to 11 points as they continue to battle back from having a 21 point deduction inflicted upon them by the Football League for breaching the organisation's profitability and sustainability rules.

Now Rooney has spoken out about his side's chances of staying in the division after they picked up yet another vital win in their bid to beat the drop:

"I've said to the players that we are a good team.

"We have good players so we have to just keep believing. I believe in that group of lads, they have to believe that we have to do the impossible and give it a go to stay in this division."

The Rams are now set to be back in action against Reading on Monday 3rd January, in what is being billed as a potential releagtion six pointer.

A win for Derby in that game could see them cut the gap to just eight points.

The Verdict 

You cannot help but admire Wayne Rooney and his players for the job they are doing at present.

They now have a real fighting chance of staying in the Championship and its fair to say that the fans are really starting to think it could happen too.

The fighting qualities they showed last night were that of a team that in usual circumstances, would be placed a lot higher in the league table.

Despite all their troubles, they still have plenty of talent within their ranks, and that is something that could serve them well moving forwards as they seek to pull off a great escape.