Baggies arrive bearing gift for Rams
SUBSTITUTE CKR POUNCES ON MISTAKE FOR WINNER
COLIN Kazim-richards came off the bench to make an instant impact as Derby County beat high-riding West Bromwich Albion yesterday.
The striker pounced on a defensive mix-up by the Baggies in the 58th minute to give the Rams a 1-0 victory in a hard-fought Championshp clash at Pride Park Stadium.
His first League goal of the season maintained Derby’s creditable record against the current top six – in seven matches they have won two, drawn four and lost only one.
This result means Derby have taken four off Albion this season and the win lifted them on to seven points.
Wayne Rooney’s team remain bottom of the table following their 21-point deduction but their spirit and desire continues to catch the eye.
There were five changes to the Derby that beat Blackpool in their previous match on December 11.
Skipper Tom Lawrence, Phil Jagielka, Kamil Jozwiak and Graeme Shinnie missed the Albion fixture.
Derby said they were without a number of players for the game as they are having to self-isolate under the strict Covid-19 protocol.
Dylan Williams, who started against Blackpool, was among the substitutes.
In came Nathan Byrne, Richard Stearman, Festy Ebosele, Liam Thompson and Sam Baldock. It was Stearman’s first start since early October.
The Rams went into the game bottom of the Championship on four points. Albion were fourth, two points outside the top two and four behind leaders Fulham.
Derby went with three at the back, as they did against Blackpool. This time the trio was Byrne, Stearman and Davies, who wore the captain’s armband.
Ebosele was right wing-back, Forsyth left wing-back.
Albion were without Karlan Grant and Alex Mowatt after they had returned positive lateral flow tests but the first threat came from the visitors, Grady Diangana cutting inside onto his left foot and his low drive was held by Ryan Allsop at the second attempt.
Jason Knight’s rising shot from the edge of the area sailed high and wide and the contest quickly became a feisty affair. Derby’s Davies and Thompson were booked for fouls on Diangana and Darnell Furlong.
There was little time or space as players closed down eagerly and were quick into challenges.
Albion saw plenty of the ball without seriously troubling Derby and with half an hour on the clock it had not been a Christmas cracker, pardon the pun.
No complaints about the commitment on show, though, and this was summed up when Stearman made a terrific block from Jake Livermore, whose strike appeared goalbound
before the defender’s intervention.
Former Rams defender and player of the year Matt Clarke was shown a yellow card for a late challenge on Knight before Albion’s Callum Roinson found himself in the area with a clear sight of goal only for Allsop to dive low to his right and make the save.
Derby switched Byrne to right wing-back, Ebosele to left wing-back and Forsyth to one of the centreback roles, but it was a first half in which the endeavour outweighed the quality.
It was goalless at the break, as it was when the teams met at The Hawthorns in September.
There was little change in the pattern of the game after the restart but a double change after 57 minutes paid dividends for Derby as Kazimrichards, who replaced Luke Plange, put the Rams ahead a minute after coming on.
A mix-up between Albion keeper Sam Johnstone and defender Cedric Kipre, when Kipre headed ball back but against the advancing Johnstone, gifted the ball to a grateful Kazim-richards who guided it into an open net from the edge of the box.
Albion responded with a double substitution of their own, Tom Fellows and Jordan Hugill for Adam Reach and Diangana, and there was a big chance for Hugill.
Fellows drove into the area and pulled the ball back, only for Hugill to side-foot wide, much to Derby’s relief.
Derby displayed wonderful fighting spirit in the manner in which they dug in but they also needed Allsop to produce a brilliant save to keep out Kyle Bartley’s close-range header deep in added time.