Cocu’s job on line as Pedro stunner cuts down Derby
A SMILING Mel Morris was having none of it. Phillip Cocu on the brink of being fired? Pah, rubbish. To reinforce the message, Derby’s owner could be seen chatting and laughing with his head coach and hammering home the message about Cocu’s job security. Behind the jollity, both men recognise things must improve dramatically or the speculation will intensify, especially with the Wayne Rooney factor. The last thing they needed was a wonder goal from Watford teenager Joao Pedro, who produced the one moment of quality to send Cocu and Co back to the drawing board. Derby started the night 20th in the table, with three points from four games. A 1-0 victory at Norwich in their last game had eased the pressure on Cocu. But Pride Park has produced little cheer with Derby still looking for their first home win in the league. Supporters are grumpy, too, about results and now at the departure of Jack Marriott on loan to Sheffield Wednesday. So there were plenty of questions to answer against Watford — and Cocu’s men could not provide them. Perhaps predictably, it was a tight contest. Rooney was involved in all that was good, from a free-kick straight at Ben Foster and a corner which Matthew Clarke almost reached to head home. Rooney then squared a Jason Knight interception to Duane Holmes, who skied his shot from the edge of the area when he might have shown more composure. An opening goal was looking hard to come by with neither goalkeeper stretched. But Watford started to come into the match and were adamant they should have had a penalty. George Evans seemed to handle under a challenge from Nathaniel Chalobah but referee Geoff Eltringham waved away all the appeals. Pedro’s sumptuous strike on 76 minutes made all that academic. Rooney stepped up in stoppage time to whip a free kick just over the bar. The hands on hips said it all.