ROYALS CURT NAPPING
Last-gasp Davies leveller is tonic for poorly Rams boss Rooney 2
Reading 2 RON LEWIS
BY
DERBY kept their unlikely survival fight on course by battling back to stun Reading – even with Wayne Rooney absent from the dugout.
The Rams boss had masterminded three wins in a row for a club who looked doomed at the foot of the table after being docked 21 points.
But with Rooney opting to stay at home with cold-like symptoms, although testing negative for Covid19, this provided the perfect remedy.
Two goals from Junior Hoilett seemed to have torpedoed County’s lifeboat but a mistake by Reading keeper Luke Southwood let in Colin Kazim-Richards to give the visitors an 86th-minute lifeline and Curtis Davies levelled in injury time.
Derby are 11 points adrift of Reading, who are one place above the drop zone, and Rooney’s No.2 Liam Rosenior said: “I thought it was the least we deserved.
“We dominated the game in terms of possession, and we just needed that break. It confirms the character we have in the group.
“I’m not concerned about the table, I’m just concerned about our performances. We can look at the table in March. It would be very easy to give up, but knowing Wayne, he has never given up at anything.”
Letting a win slip away was a blow for the Royals, who had six points deducted and have drifted towards the relegation places after a string of Covid-related postponements.
Playing their first game since December 11, Reading showed no signs of rustiness with Derby keeper Ryan Allsop saving brilliantly from a powerful Andy Carroll header.
Then in the 37th minute Carroll headed on to Hoilett, who created space and whipped a curling shot beyond Allsop from distance.
Reading extended their lead on 56 minutes when Allsop failed to hold Hoilett’s shot.
Derby piled forward and when a Max Bird cross slipped through Southwood’s hands, sub KazimRichards nodded in. At the death, Nathan Byrne crossed superbly and Davies rose to power home a header.
“We had a fantastic 60 minutes, our best first half in a long time, but from then on our lack of fitness and gamereadiness showed,” said Royals boss Veljko Paunovic.