Referee in the firing line of livid Lampard
FURIOUS Frank Lampard blasted the referee as his Derby team dropped more points.
And it could have been worse – but for a late goal-line clearance from Mason Mount, the teenager on loan from Chelsea called up for England by Gareth Southgate last week.
Jack Marriott, a £2.5million summer signing from Peterborough, fired the Rams into the lead on his first league start.
But the 48th-minute equaliser from Geoff Cameron, his first QPR goal, stemmed from a fiercely disputed free-kick awarded for a challenge by Fikayo Tomori on Ebere Eze.
Lampard laid into official David Webb. He said: “We definitely should have won the game for everything we did. I am proud of the players.
“Unfortunately we lost out because of a refereeing decision and that is a fact. It wasn’t a foul by Tomori, absolutely not.
“It is a mistake, obviously not a foul, and they score from the free-kick. You can gauge the frustration from the tone of my voice.”
That made it three games without a win for the promotion-chasing Rams
– but Rangers boss Steve McClaren was in stark contrast a delighted man.
He said: “It was a great game of football and a hell of an advert for the Championship. I’m sure both Frank and I were both cheesed off with the ref and quite a few of his decisions.
“It was a big second half for us and we showed character.
“I was very pleased for Geoff and we have tightened up at the back but we have goals in the team and we need to see them.”
Derby took the lead after 24 minutes. A basic hoof forward from Bradley Johnson bamboozled Toni Leistner and Joel Lynch and Marriott smartly latched on to the loose ball before finding a cool finish.
Within three minutes of the restart Rangers were level.
From the contested free-kick, Luke Freeman’s shot was just kept out by Scott Carson but Nakhi Wells kept the ball alive and Cameron fired home from eight yards.
MATCHWINNER Matt Doherty was not particularly impressed with Martin O’Neill’s assessment of his attacking prowess last month.
Not enough forward thrust for a wing-back was the general gist from the Republic of Ireland manager.
Doherty respectfully disagreed with his international boss in interviews he gave soon after.
And here at Selhurst Park he rammed his viewpoint home, this time letting his feet do the talking.
His right foot in particular, as he ended a delightful build-up from Wolves by slotting home the only goal of the game at Wayne Hennessey’s near post.
And no doubt he will have a wry smile when he meets up with O’Neill this week ahead of Ireland’s games with Denmark and Wales.
Hennessey had made a fine save to deny the impressive Raul Jimenez in the first half but he couldn’t escape the blame for Doherty’s goal after committing a keeper’s cardinal sin.
Not that Wolves cared who was to blame as they continued the very impressive start they have made to life in the Premier League. Boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “What others want from Matt, I don’t really care.
“What I want is what Matt has been giving me and giving his team-mates.
“Not only on the offensive part but defensive set-pieces – he’s a very, very important player.”
There were few clear chances at either end in a first half which won’t live long in the memory.
Jiminez had the best of them, dragging a shot wide on a counter-attack and then seeing Hennessey doing very well to block another effort soon after.
The Portuguese had looked offside when Helder Costa played him in for the second of those chances but the flag stayed down and the goal would have stood.
Jeffrey Schlupp had the Eagles’ best opportunity when Rui Patricio could only paw away Luka Milivojevic’s corner but his fizzing strike from the rebound was just over.
Ruben Neves’ effort early in the second half was never troubling Hennessey but then Doherty beat him all ends up.
Wolves moved the ball quickly and when Doherty picked it up he played a sharp one-two with Jimenez before beating the Palace keeper.
Palace bos Roy Hodgson said: “It’s not just the goalkeeper, we didn’t defend the one-two very well and, as a result, the guy gets into a shooting position and is able to take the chance.
“I would have been expecting us to take that chance if one of our players had got in that position.”
Patricio then made a fine double save to