Frankie’s flops easy meat in the Lions’ den
DERBY boss Frank Lampard admitted his Rams only had themselves to blame for a mauling by Millwall.
The former Chelsea and West Ham midfielder received a predictably fierce welcome from the Lions fans.
And his defence crumbled in a raucous atmosphere – letting in two soft goals in the first 20 minutes before a minirevival after half-time.
Strikes from Jake Cooper – also claimed by Lee Gregory – and a deflected effort from Shaun Williams gave Neil Harris’ dogs of war a first league win of the season.
Harris was in the year above Lampard at Brentwood School in Essex and played for the same team – and his players handed out a lesson to Derby in the first period.
Lampard said: “The Millwall treatment? You know it is coming but we didn’t have enough urgency and didn’t deal with balls in the box, hence the first goal.
“And the second goal was a freak – deflected into the top corner when it was going 20 yards wide.
“I have played in more hostile stadiums that were full to the rafters and really aggressive. It’s not an excuse, we didn’t deal with it in the first 20 but we did in the second half.”
Harris said: “Frank got a warm reception from our fan base but he is going to be a cracking manager.
“It takes time, I am still learning every day. I thought Lee got the final touch for our first goal, people were saying it might not be, but I like to give them to my striker!
“Derby couldn’t compete physically in the first half-hour and in that period we were excellent.”
A Williams free-kick from the right after just seven minutes led to the opener.
Gregory flicked it on at the near post and with the ball appearing to get a touch from Cooper it drifted into the net.
And after 20 minutes an unmarked Williams cracked the ball left-footed via a deflection into the top corner from 30 yards past a shell-shocked Scott Carson.
Martyn Waghorn had a goal ruled out for offside but sub David Nugent did finally pull one back with a smart 73rd-minute finish.