Chris Martin.

Norwich City on-loan striker Chris Martin wants a longer term stay at Derby and aims to bolster his case with a starring role in this weekend’s televised Championship clash against East Midlands rivals Leicester City.

Rams’ boss Nigel Clough confirmed earlier this week he is keen to agree a loan extension to keep Martin at Pride Park with the Beccles-bred frontman’s initial one-month deal finishing after tomorrow’s local derby against the promotion-hunting Foxes.

Martin is out of contract at Carrow Road in the summer and was omitted from Chris Hughton’s 25-man Premier League squad list in January. The 24-year-old knows performing well in front of a nationwide television audience can only help improve his future career prospects.

“I have enjoyed my time here so we’ll see how it goes. I honestly don’t know what is happening,” he said. “I’ll speak with my agent, the gaffer here and the coaching side and see where they want to take it. It’s only been 28 days and unfortunately with the international break coming up there are no games in between but hopefully something can be sorted this week, either way.

“Leicester have a great squad and they have spent a far bit of money building it and had the luxury to do that. We know the threat they pose. I have played against them individually myself and I know how good they can be. We are at home and we will look to take the game to them and with it being in front of the cameras it gives it an extra little bit of spice. We feel we can live with any team in the division on our day.”

Martin previously had an extended loan spell at League One Swindon after falling down the pecking order under Hughton following three early-season appearances for his parent club. The Norwich academy graduate feels he has benefited from his East Midlands switch despite having not yet featured on the winning side for Clough.

“The only disappointing thing is the results along the way,” said Martin, speaking to Derby’s official site. “I was involved in the first three games and we got one point and probably could have had nine. We deserved that. We put in a great away performance at Cardiff and gave away a goal we shouldn’t have. We lost to (Crystal) Palace at home when I thought we were the better team for 75pc of that game and Watford away we were unlucky not to sneak a draw at least in the second half.

“Birmingham last weekend is perhaps the first time we can say we didn’t play well for the whole game. We played well in fits and starts and the performance levels have been very high since I have been here. We just need to grind out a few more results and turn the narrow losses into more points and wins. I don’t think it is that far away. I have settled in and I am looking for us to kick on.”

The Rams let a one-goal lead slip at St Andrews in a 3-1 Championship defeat and Martin warned his team-mates need to turn performances into points to remain well clear of relegation trouble.

“The team hasn’t won in the last eight or nine games and when you haven’t won that often recently sometimes you just need to try and grind out a 1-0 win,” he said, with Clough’s side currently six points clear of the bottom three. “It isn’t always the case that you can score three or four goals. If we had used a bit more nous we could have seen it through.

“In the first half at Birmingham we were on top and even for 10 or 15 minutes after the break we weathered the storm.

“They made some substitutions and it gave them a bit more impetus after an hour or so.”