Derby County manager Gary Rowett has insisted that he is feeling "confident" ahead of his side's playoff semi-final tie against Fulham.

The Cottagers head into the two-legged affair as favourites to progress through to the Wembley final later this month, having finished 13 points better off than their opponents at the end of the regular season.

Fulham head into the match on the back of a first defeat in 24 matches, with Rowett's former side Birmingham City finding the magic formula to overcome the in-form Londoners on the final day of the campaign.

Rowett does not intend to copy Birmingham's blueprint, however, telling reporters: "Any team that plays Fulham knows you have to try to limit space because they are a good side and if you give them lots of opportunities to exploit space, they will.

"They make a lot of passes, they are patient in the way they play, they try to drag you out of position and they have got good players. Birmingham did really well because they were incredibly competitive against them, but Birmingham are a different side to us. I know that because I know lots of the players.

"We haven't got [Maikel] Kieftenbeld and [David] Davis in midfield, we haven't got that type of destructive quality. We have got technical players in there that can pass a ball as well as mix it up. I don't think we would ever try to be another team and just copy their gameplan, but what you try to do is look at ways you can hurt Fulham, as you would with any opponent.

"A lot of teams have done that with Fulham over 23 games and no-one seemed to find the solution. We know it will be a tough test, but we are really confident and we cannot wait for the game."

Derby welcome Fulham to Pride Park for the first leg on Friday night, before travelling to Craven Cottage for the return match next Monday.