Dad’s the way to do it, Frank BABY GIRL AND THREE POINTS ARE PERFECT
THERE may be sleepless nights ahead for new dad Frank Lampard – but he could celebrate the birth of his daughter with a thrilling victory last night.
Hours after wife Christine had given birth to baby Patricia, Frank (right) was in the dugout to watch his Derby side return to the play-off positions with three goals in a devastating first half that he described as the best of his reign.
Lampard said: “On a personal note at home and, obviously in the workplace, it was a nice finish to a nice weekend.
“I was delighted with the performance because no matter how happy you are at home, you want to come to work and be happy and the lads were absolutely outstanding. Against one of the top teams in the division to react like we did after a sloppy start, they were sensational for those first 40 minutes.
“Fast, energetic and the icing on the cake was the end product, which makes all the difference.
“I was pleased with the way we slipped through the gears in the first half.
“We were brave on the ball and everything that we want to be.
“We have set the level now, that’s the standard I want, the next challenge is to be more consistent.”
Brentford could not have wished for a better start when they took the lead after just 54 seconds through Henrik Dalsgaard, who headed Mohamed Benrahma’s rightwing corner in off the bar. The lead didn’t last long before a superb counter attack from a Bees corner saw Harry Wilson and Craig Bryson link-up for Wilson to tap home from close range. The equaliser spurred the home side into life and Lampard’s men soon raced into a 3-1 lead by the break. David Nugent’s chip over Brentford keeper David Bentley from Bradley Johnson’s lobbed pass put the hosts in front. Then on-loan Chelsea youngster Mason Mount netted his fifth of the season with a curling free-kick that gave Bentley no chance. The second half failed to live up to the excitement of the first.
But Mount was unlucky not to add to his free-kick when he cut in from the left but dragged his shot just wide.
Visiting manager Dean Smith admitted his side were not good enough to cope with Derby.
He said: “We had a really good start with the corner and then the header.
“Apart from the deflection for the corner I don’t think they touched the ball before we scored.
“The manner of the goals will disappoint me, but I don’t want to take credit away from Derby.
“They were very good in the first half and to cope with them we needed players at seven and eight performance-wise.
“And we didn’t have enough of those.”