Inability to bag second is hurting bid to climb off bottom
WAYNE Rooney, hurting from Coventry City’s late equaliser, remained upbeat about Derby County’s chances of climbing off the bottom of the Championship.
The Rams prop up the table after a third of the season.
A record of only one win and eight points from 15 matches suggests they are where they deserve to be.
Rooney has been interim manager in the last two games and both ended in 1-1 draws, against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday and Coventry City on Tuesday night.
“If we perform like that in the next few games and in the next few weeks, we will start winning games and start moving up the table,” Rooney said after watching Colin Kazim-Richards head the Rams into an 83rd-minute lead only for Gustavo Hamer to volley Coventry level in added time.
Derby have looked more of a threat in the final third, they have created more chances in the last two matches. Fact.
But if they are to lift themselves out of trouble they need to be more ruthless and learn to build on or hold onto a lead and cut out conceding late goals.
They have taken the lead in five of the last nine fixtures but all five finished 1-1. Wycombe’s leveller came in the 81st minute, Coventry’s in the 91st.
Derby are suffering because they are failing to find that second goal. They have yet to score more than once in any of their 17 games in all competitions this season.
That has to change – and quickly. There was a golden opportunity for them to do so against Coventry when 19-year-old striker Jack Stretton, leading scorer in the under-23s, came off the bench and sent a really good chance crashing against the bar a minute before the visitors’ equaliser.
“It looked like it (the ball) was a bit
underneath his feet, a bit of an awkward one to hit, so he is unlucky,” Rooney added.
“Normally, if it is more on his right side, I have no doubt he would finish that. I have got great faith in him and that is why he has come on in the last two games.”
Derby have now gone 11 games without a win and their last home victory in the League was in June!
But there were positives in the performance against Coventry.
Nathan Byrne produced arguably his best display since signing from Wigan Athletic, Krystian Bielik completed only his second 90 minutes since recovering from a serious knee injury and Kazim-Richards again added muscle and menace as the centre-forward.
The concern, however, and it is a growing concern, is that for a second time in a month Derby faced backto-back home games billed as ‘mustwin’ but failed to win either.
Queens Park Rangers and Barnsley visited Pride Park Stadium at the beginning of November and both left with three points. Now Wycombe and Coventry, opponents who are also in the bottom six, have left with a point apiece.
Yes, there has been improvement. But Derby need more, much more. They need wins.