Derby County manager Wayne Rooney has insisted that he has full belief in Kelle Roos’ quality following his influential performance in the Rams’ goalless draw at West Bom.

Roos headed into the game off the back of his first disappointing display of the season in the Rams’ 2-0 defeat at Birmingham City.

The keeper delivered some sloppy moments in possession at St Andrews and also at times looked a little vulnerable with his positioning.

However, against West Brom, Roos delivered a much-improved performance and he was arguably the standout player on the field as he frequently frustrated the Baggies.

In total, Roos managed to make eight saves with some of those being excellent stops to deny major chances for West Brom to make a breakthrough.

While the 29-year-old also managed to clear the ball well from set-pieces at times with some strong punches out of danger.

Speaking to Derbyshire Live after the draw at West Brom, Rooney insisted that he has full faith in Roos and believes that he was able to show his quality at the Hawthorns.

He said: "I have said before, he is a fantastic goalkeeper.

"He probably knows himself, he does know himself because we sat down and spoke about when we are playing in a certain style it starts with him and so he has to be good with his feet.

“I thought tonight he was excellent, some good saves.”

The verdict

Roos has had to show a lot of character in his career at Derby to date and he has at times looked like a player that was going to struggle to assert himself as the Rams’ first choice between the sticks.

However, Rooney has shown a lot of faith in Roos at the start of the campaign, and it is clear that he has been entrusted to be the club’s number one this term ahead of Ryan Allsop and David Marshall.

Crucially for Roos, he managed to keep his place in the side despite delivering a poor performance at times in the defeat at Birmingham.

In the past he might have been dropped to the bench after that kind of display and then it is difficult to recover form and confidence.

Rooney though handed Roos the chance to bounce back, and he did that in some style by pulling off a number of brilliant saves to keep the Rams in the game at West Bom.

These are the sorts of displays that Derby have to now start seeing consistently from the keeper over the coming weeks. That is because he will be crucial to helping them pick up some important points.