the championship

JOHNNY RUSSELL made the perfect entrance to give Steve McClaren a winning start to his second spell as Derby manager.

Russell smashed a low shot in from the edge of the area four minutes after coming on as a second-half sub to earn Derby’s first home Championship win of the season.

Leeds almost spoiled McClaren’s return when sub Marcus Antonsson hit a post in stoppage time, but Derby held on in front of a 31,000-plus crowd. It was no surprise that McClaren switched to his favoured 4-3-3 formation, but a longrange effort from Bradley Johnson that cleared the bar was as close as Derby came in a tepid opening 20 minutes.

Hadi Sacko almost went clear for Leeds before Jacob Butterfield fired over from 25 yards in the 26th minute, but the visitors fashioned an opening a minute later when Luke Ayling crossed from the right and Chris Wood flashed a header wide.

Derby were forced into a change in the 52nd minute when Ikechi Anya limped off following a robust challenge and his replacement, Russell, fired the home side ahead four minutes later.

A corner was only cleared as far as the edge of the box and Russell was the first to the loose ball and drove a low shot past Rob Green for his first goal of the season.

Green was probably unsighted as the ball skidded past him but he kept Leeds in it in the 64th minute when he plunged to his left to beat away a 20-yard shot from Will Hughes.

Derby thought they had scored a second in the 68th minute when Tom Ince broke away down the right and his low cross was turned in by Vydra, but the Czech striker had just strayed offside.