RAMS WIN EASES THE PRESSURE
ROONEY’S MEN BEAT LUTON TO PULL CLEAR OF DANGER:
DERBY County won for the first time in eight matches to ease their relegation worries in the Championship.
Goals from Lee Gregory after seven minutes and a Graeme Shinnie penalty early in the second half gave the Rams a 2-0 victory over Luton Town at Pride Park Stadium.
Defeats for Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday meant the three points lifted Wayne Rooney’s team to eight points above the relegation places with seven games remaining.
Derby went into the game looking to end a seven-match winless run. Luton, unchanged for a third match, had won four of their previous six fixtures.
With only two goals scored in six games, Rooney said Derby had been working during the international break on being more of a threat in the final third. They went almost 4-2-4 with the ball and 4-4-2 without it, and their work paid off after seven minutes.
Louie Sibley, playing on the right, picked out Martyn Waghorn with a cross to the back post. The striker steered the ball past Simon Sluga and there was Gregory to apply the final touch from close range for his third goal since arriving on loan from Stoke City.
There was almost a second goal for the Rams when the movement of Waghorn and Gregory dragged markers away on Nathan Byrne’s centre, but Tom Lawrence’s effort trickled narrowly wide.
Luton fashioned two very good chances which Elijah Adebayo failed to take. He headed one wide and was then denied by a fine save from David Marshall.
Marshall’s fingertips also kept out a flicked header from Glen Rea while, at the other end, Sibley saw his drive pushed out by Sluga.
Derby registered seven attempts at goal in the opening 45 minutes, three on target, a significant improvement in numbers on recent matches, but they suffered a blow in the closing stages of the first half when Waghorn went down with what looked to be a hamstring problem. He was replaced by Colin Kazim-Richards.
Derby needed only four minutes of the second half to double their lead. Lawrence was brought down in the area and Graeme Shinnie stepped up and confidently drove his penalty low past Sluga.
Lawrence skipped past his marker and his low cross-shot was somehow diverted behind by Luton defender Jordan Clark. Back came Derby sensing a third goal and Nathan Byrne’s volley from an angle was kept out by Sluga at his near post.
Luton pressed in search of way back into the contest but Derby held firm and recorded a first clean sheet in four games.