Middlesbrough striker Patrick Bamford is relishing Tuesday evening's visit to Derby County, the club where he spent the second half of the 2013/14 season.
After a fine spell with Milton Keynes Dons, Bamford moved up to the Sky Bet Championship and hit eight goals in 14 appearances for the Rams, following a loan move from parent club Chelsea.Now the striker is finding the net regularly for Derby's promotion rivals, Middlesbrough, and he can't wait for the challenge when the two sides clash at the iPro Stadium.
“We’re all excited for the Derby game,” the striker told the club's official website. “Especially on the back of the Ipswich result,” in which Bamford grabbed two goals in a resounding 4-1 victory.
The front man already has one goal against his former employers this term after scoring in the 2-0 meeting at the Riverside, and his brace against Ipswich took him to 15 goals in all competitions.
“I think we’d rather play these top teams than have games against teams that are maybe scrapping to stay in the league,” he added.
“Going to go to teams like Derby and Bournemouth makes for massive games with where we are in the league, and we’re looking forward to it.”
Will Bamford bag another against his former club? We'll have goal updates on Twitter via @SkyBetChamp.