Louis Carey is calling upon his Bristol City team-mates to react in a positive fashion to the rollicking meted out by angry manager Gary Johnson in midweek, writes Andy Stockhausen.

City's fuming boss subjected his team to the hairdryer treatment in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's 1-0 defeat at Birmingham, letting the players know in no uncertain terms what he thought of their performance.

Unhappy at conceding a goal from a set-piece three minutes from time and with the manner of his side's defeat, the Londoner accused players of not wanting to win badly enough.

No-one was spared in a brutally honest post-match inquest and Carey and his colleagues emerged from the dressing room looking chastened and downcast.

But City's captain felt the manager was right to have his say and believes Johnson's broadside will serve as a crucial motivational factor ahead of Saturday's lunchtime Championship kick-off against Derby County at Pride Park.

"The gaffer has his own way of doing things and he's shown in the past how good he is at getting the best out of people," said Carey.

"Usually, when he has to have a go at us, we put in a far better performance the next game.

"We have to take on board what he told us after the Birmingham game and use it as a positive.

"He said it as he saw it for that one game and it doesn't mean you're going to be left out of the side.

"If he doesn't think you're putting it in and doing the right things, he'll tell you. We have to use that as motivation to turn things around at Derby."

Carey insists there is room for improvement following defeat at the hands of promotion rivals Birmingham.

He added: "Of course the result was disappointing, because we missed out on a chance to close the gap on Birmingham. But we were also disappointed with the way we played.

"I thought we started really well but then let them back into the game and gave their crowd encouragement. We didn't start the second half too brightly and, apart from a couple of counter-attacks, we didn't really look like scoring.

"All in all, we didn't do enough to warrant winning the game."

Defeat at St Andrews cost the Robins their place in the play-off zone and increased the pressure on Johnson's team to return to winning ways at Pride Park.

Carey sees no reason why City should not return from the East Midlands with all three points.

He recalled: "We put in a poor performance at Doncaster a few weeks ago and got a rollicking after the game.

"But it didn't deter the lads and we bounced back with a great performance and result at Reading a few days later.

"We proved we can recover quickly from defeat back then and we can do it again. Having lost at Birmingham, the Derby game is a really big one for us.

"We said the same before we played Plymouth in January, won that game and then went on an unbelievable run. There are 10 games to go and we're going to have to do something similar if we want to be sure of making the play-offs."

Rejuvenated since Nigel Clough succeeded Paul Jewell as manager two months ago, the Rams will be no pushover. In fact, Clough's charges have earned the right to be considered one of the Championship's form teams in recent weeks, carving out a series of impressive victories to move clear of the relegation zone.

Carey acknowledged: "Derby have definitely picked up since the new manager was appointed and they'll make it difficult for us.

"I've not seen them, so I'm not sure what he has done to turn things around up there. Whatever it is, I'm sure the gaffer will tell us.

"What we do know is that Derby are one of the strongest teams in the league and they're also in good form at the moment."