RUSSELL Anderson is looking to build on his first start in a Derby County shirt.

Anderson replaced Jake Buxton (below, right) at centre-half for Tuesday night's 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough.

It was the 31-year-old's first competitive 90 minutes of action for 18 months.

Anderson suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury while on loan at Burnley from Sunderland in September 2008.

Having recovered following more than a year out, the defender joined Derby on a short-term deal after his contract at Sunderland was cancelled by mutual consent.

He made his debut as a substitute in the 3-0 win at Peterborough United and came off the bench on five more occasions before the Middlesbrough match.

"It was good to be back in the starting line-up," said Anderson.

"I've been enjoying my time here but, obviously, the main reason for coming down here was to play games.

"I've had to wait a while for my chance because the players who have been in the team have been doing quite well since I've been here.

"But it was good to be back and once I got going, I really enjoyed it.

"You have to be patient and since I made my debut at Peterborough, it has been a pretty settled back four.

"So I have just had to bide my time, like everyone else.

"It has been a bit frustrating but that is just the way it is.

"I'm just happy to be back playing football as it had been a long time since I made a competitive start."

Anderson is now hoping to keep his place in the side for this weekend's visit to Sheffield Wednesday.

"My aim is to stay in the team for the next game but I don't want to look any further than that," said the former Aberdeen captain.

"Hopefully, I will have done enough to keep my place but we will find out on Saturday."

Wednesday lie one point above the Championship relegation zone and four points behind Derby.

"They are all important games at the moment," said Anderson.

"It is going to be one of those games where you don't have much time on the ball and as the home team, I am sure they will be coming out to have a real go at us.

"But we have to match that and take the positive points from the Middlesbrough performance into the game.

"If we do that, I think we will do well.

"I think every team in the division has still got something to play for. Nobody has thrown the towel in yet and rightly so.

"They are no different and we are no different, so it's going to be a difficult game but one we are looking forward to."

The Rams have only won twice on the road this season – only bottom club Peterborough United have a worse away record in the division.

"I think there are a few teams in this division who are a completely different proposition at home than they are away," Anderson added.

"Our form away from home this season hasn't been good enough.

"I think if it had been any better, we wouldn't be down where we are at the moment.

"But Saturday is the perfect time to change that, against one of the teams that is battling away against us."

Anderson was pleased with the overall performance against Middlesbrough but rued the lapse that allowed Leroy Lita to head a 90th-minute equaliser at Pride Park Stadium.

"It was a hard game but I thought we played very well," said Anderson.

"We were disappointed not to get the three points as we thought we had done enough.

"But we just switched off for one moment towards the end of the game and it has cost us, which is disappointing, because the three points would have been very much appreciated.

"It felt like a defeat sitting in the changing room afterwards. We would have taken a point at half-time but the way the game panned out and the way we played in the second half, I don't think anyone could have begrudged us the three points."

Despite Lita's late blow, Anderson praised the Rams for battling back from 1-0 down to lead courtesy of goals from Chris Porter and Michael Tonge.

"The way we came back showed character, especially after the last two away games," he said.

"Having conceded the first goal against Middlesbrough, I think a lot of people could have been entitled to think we would have just folded.

"But I think the goal they scored was perhaps against the run of play. They weren't causing an awful lot of problems for us, so it was out of the blue.

"We just kept doing the basics right and the second half was very good from us.

"We scored two good goals but, unfortunately, it wasn't enough."