Paul Trollope says Cardiff City can 'dig way out' of drop zone

A red card for Cardiff's Matthew Connolly led to Derby's second goal on Tuesday

Cardiff City boss Paul Trollope insists his side can drag themselves out of the Championship relegation zone.

Tuesday's 2-0 home defeat by Derby left Cardiff second from bottom in the table.

Their concerns were compounded by an injury to striker Rickie Lambert, but Trollope believes his players can recover from their poor start.

"We've got a belief within the camp we can dig ourselves out of it and move up the table," he said.

"We were hoping Saturday's win at Rotherham would be a catalyst for that - obviously it's not worked out in that manner, which is frustrating.

"Confidence is not going to be at its best - that's human nature.

"We've taken a few injuries over the last few weeks which we'll have to deal with, but football always gives you a chance to bounce back quickly."

Lambert scored both goals as Cardiff beat Rotherham 2-1 last Saturday to claim only their second win of the season.

However, a hamstring injury forced the transfer deadline day signing from West Brom to leave the field after just 12 minutes of the match against Derby.

With forward Anthony Pilkington already missing through injury, Trollope had to bring on the inexperienced Kenneth Zohore in Lambert's place.

"Losing Rickie so early in the game was a huge blow to us.

"That was a bitter blow on top of the strikers we were already missing," Trollope added.

"I am not here to make excuses. We do have players out but the structure we have means we should have belief we can cope with the quality of opposition we faced."

The loss to Derby was Cardiff's sixth from their 10 Championship games this season.

Next for the Bluebirds is Saturday's trip to Burton, who are two points clear of Cardiff in 18th place.

"We will dust ourselves down, look and learn from it very quickly, and try and get mentally, physically and tactically ready for a trip to Burton," said Trollope.

"The pressure is on. It's a big game and we've got to be ready for that."