Jerome the special one
DERBY turned to a play-off specialist to help them banish their promotion demons – and Cameron Jerome responded to give the Rams a handy first-leg lead.
The experienced striker, a veteran of play-off success, maintained his stunning end-of-season form with the only goal of a tense game..
Derby, who have made a habit of falling short, will hope the forward’s knowhow can help them succeed this time.
But they face a testing second leg at Craven Cottage on Monday against a side whose swashbuckling style almost delivered automatic promotion.
In just the second minute Fulham had claimed a penalty when a bouncing ball struck the hand of Curtis Davies but referee Roger East thought otherwise.
Ryan Sessegnon found himself on the edge of the Derby area but fired high.
Derby found their feet and Tom Lawrence used his to great effect when he skipped between two Fulham players to spark a pacy counter-attack.
He fed Matej Vydra, who eventually ran out of room as he was closed down by goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.
With Fulham looking nervous at the back, Derby piled forward and a Bradley Johnson cross just eluded Tom Lawrence.
After a period of cagey play, Floyd Ayite should have tested Derby goalkeeper Scott Carson when he met a Ryan Fredericks cross 10 yards from goal. But he sent a header wide.
The frustration at a lack of cutting edge was clear on the Derby bench when Lawrence made a mess of his cross for Jerome after he was fed cleverly by Andre Wisdom.
The tension was released, however, when Jerome broke the deadlock on 34 minutes after a patient build-up.
Derby passed up chances to deliver a cross before Tom Huddlestone’s fine pass found Craig Forsyth and his pinpoint cross to the far post found Jerome, who leapt above Matt Targett to thunder home a header. Seven minutes before half-time Carson failed to hold a shot on the turn from Aleksandar Mitrovic but the keeper claimed at the second attempt.
Fulham were glad to hear the whistle for half-time. Three minutes into the second half the visitors survived a major scare when Denis Odoi’s poorly-judged back pass left Bettinelli in trouble.
The goalkeeper slipped as he attempted a hurried clearance and the ball struck Lawrence but ricocheted to safety.
Yet the Cottagers generally made a promising start to the half, with Sessegnon firing just over.
They went even closer after 54 minutes as the bar came to Derby’s rescue when Kevin McDonald fired in a beauty.
Ayite sent another long-range effort just wide for the visitors, then should have drawn them level. He darted past Forsyth to meet a cross by Stefan Johansen, only to shoot with just Carson to beat.
Andreas Weimann shot wide for Derby but Fulham’s threat was obvious and Carson had to make a good save to palm away a powerful drive by Tom Cairney.
With 17 minutes remaining substitute Ikechi Anya had a chance to double Derby’s lead but just failed at full stretch to get his head to a cross.
DERBY (3-4-3): Goal: Booked:
over
Booked:
MIDDLESBROUGH manager Tony Pulis got on his bike this week to take his staff on a 30-mile ride to Saltburn as part of a bonding exrcise. “We saw a different side of things,” said Pulis, whose team host Aston Villa in the first leg of their play-off semi-final today.
Pulis has applied some not so subtle pressure on referee Bobby Madeley to give star winger Adama Traore more protection. “Adama has been targeted, there is no doubt about it,” he said.