JED & BURIED
Wallace 72 DERBY were given a harsh lesson as they blew their big chance to move into the top six.
And promotion looks like a fading dream on the evidence of last night’s shambles. Jed Wallace scuppered the Rams’ hopes of a place in the play-off positions with a 72nd-minute goal.
Derby boss Frank Lampard came up against old school mate Neil Harris but it was the Millwall man who ended up getting his homework right.
The two played in the same team when they were teenagers at the exclusive Brentwood School in Essex.
But it was Harris who finished the night as head boy thanks to a neatlyexecuted sucker punch by his men.
Shane Ferguson sent Wallace racing away with a superbly struck long ball upfield which caught Derby on the hop.
Victory for the Rams against a side who had not scored in their last three league games and have an awful away record, would have seen them leapfrog Bristol City.
But it was a case of must do better for Lamps (below) and his men after Wallace punished them and they ended up getting booed off.
Ashley Cole was left struggling to cover as Wallace raced in on goal and, as keeper Kelle Roos advanced, he smashed a low shot into the net. Lampard gave Cole the nod to make his first start in English football since his Chelsea days back in May, 2014. The first half was a cagey affair with neither side managing any clear-cut chances. You sensed Derby might just create problems for themselves with their liking for playing the ball around the back. That so nearly proved the case a few minutes before the break when Tom Huddlestone was caught out by Lee Gregory and ended up getting himself booked for a hasty trip trying to clear up the mess.
A couple of minutes after the restart, Derby asked a few questions at last.
Richard Keogh was first to get to a Jayden Bogle corner but his angled shot drilled into the side netting.
Then in the 51st minute they had a real chance when a 50-yard ball from Fikayo Tomori sent Jack Marriott clear on goal.
But the striker, just back from an ankle injury, got the ball wrapped up in his feet and ended up falling away from it just as he prepared to shoot.
Then Marriott latched onto a Duane Holmes cross but couldn’t get the required power on his header.
But for all their bluster, Derby still didn’t manage to make Lions keeper Jordan Archer make a meaningful save until stoppage time when he did well to beat away a Tomori header destined for the bottom corner. Just the little matter of Forest and Villa away next for Lampard to regain some pride.
CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE