Derby hosted Nottingham Forest in an East Midlands duel on Friday
FOREST manager Chris Hughton insisted he would not be over-hyping on-loan Manchester United teenager James Garner after he scored his first goal in league football.
The Red Devils midfielder, who spent the first half of the season at Watford, netted from the edge of the box, before Colin Kazim-Richards’ late equaliser secured a point for Derby at Pride Park.
But Hughton is taking his guardianship of the 19-yearold seriously, saying: “He’s a very level-headed young man and our responsibility is not to build him up too much and to give him a good education.”
Hughton added that his team should have put the game beyond the Rams prior to Kazim-Richards’ 84thminute leveller, saying: “They were better in possession in the first half, but they didn’t really threaten our goal.
“We still needed to be better and we were in the second half, but our biggest failing was not finishing the game off. It wasn’t as if we were hanging on – we got in some good areas, but didn’t get the second goal. The players are down and the timing of the goal makes it disappointing.”
A cagey start by both saw Luke Freeman scuff a shot wide, before Lee Buchanan tried his luck for the hosts.
Brice Samba had to be alert when he dived low to his left to parry Graeme Shinnie’s powerful strike, with Yuri Ribeiro blocking Kamil Jozwiak’s goal-bound, follow-up effort.
It was Forest that made the breakthrough after 34 minutes when Ribeiro hooked the ball into the Rams’ box and skipper Joe Worrall headed down for Garner to squeeze a 15-yard drive inside David Marshall’s left-hand upright.
Marshall was substituted just before half-time having picked up an injury and his replacement, Kelle Roos, went on to fumble another Garner strike, but recovered in time.
After the break, Garner spotted Roos out of his goal from a free-kick near halfway line, but his lob drifted wide.
At the other end, Kazim-Richards strode clear down the right channel, but his shot rolled narrowly wide, while Garner headed straight at Roos from a Cyrus Christie cross just past the hour mark.
Derby then punished the visitors when Kazim-Richards ran on to Lee Gregory’s ball and capitalised on a couple of favourable ricochets, before blasting a thumping edge-of-the-box half-volley into Samba’s top-left corner.
The Rams have failed to beat Forest in eight – their longest winless derby run – and boss Wayne Rooney agreed that his side were fortunate. He said: “They scored against the run of the play in the first half and we did in the second.
“We were excellent for the first 30 minutes, causing problems, not in terms of the chances we were creating, but we were making them work and they did not know how to press us.
“Our heads dropped, though, after we conceded. We were losing second balls and almost let Forest in three or four times. I’m pleased to get a point.”
JUBILANT Luton boss Nathan Jones was left beaming with pride after his side came from 2-0 down at half-time to beat Sheffield Wednesday.
Josh Windass’s double had seen the Owls leading at the break as the strugglers appeared to be on their way to a welcome three points until Town hit back in the second period with goals from Kal Naismith, Ryan Tunnicliffe and new striker Elijah Adebayo.
Jones said: “To a man, second half, they were outstanding. I don’t think they had a shot on target whereas, first half, they could have had a hundred, literally could have had a hundred.
“It was just such a chalk and cheese performance, the levels went up, the basics went up, every single thing went through the roof and I’m just so happy and proud.”
The visitors had led after six minutes as a short goalkick was given away by Luton inside their own half and Callum Paterson got clear on the right before cutting the ball back for Windass to score.
Windass looked for a second moments later, making his way in from the left, but dragged wide of the target.
It was all Wednesday in the opening stages, Julian Borner unable to divert his header on target while Kadeem Harris saw two shots deflected behind.
They should have led 2-0 after 21 minutes, when Windass was put through with only Simon Sluga to beat, but shot wastefully off target. Sluga then did well to prevent Matt Penney’s longrange attempt from flying in, with an offside Paterson sending the rebound over.
But just as Luton tried to get through to the break only 1-0 behind, a second arrived as a completely unmarked Windass scored his second, lashing a cross into the top corner.
Jones made three changes at the break and the Hatters gave themselves a lifeline inside three minutes of the second half, Naismith meeting a corner on his left foot to score a first goal for the club.
It was 2-2 after 58 minutes as Adebayo did well on the left, sending a low cross into the box where Tunnicliffe advanced to beat Joe Wildsmith and notch his first goal of the season.
Adebayo then wriggled clear in the area and could only shoot into the side-netting, while Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu wasn’t able to reach Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s searching cross at the far post.
Paterson went close for the Owls midway through the half, his volley not missing by much, while Luton tried to get a third, Tunnicliffe slamming over.
There was to be a winner though and it came for the Hatters with only four minutes left.
Harry Cornick did superbly on the right to stand up a cross for Adebayo to power home a downward header and complete a stunning turnaround which not many would have predicted.
Stunned Owls caretaker boss Neil Thompson said: “It was probably as well as we’ve played first half. We created chances, lots of them. You need to do the basics right, that’s what we’ve got to do, and we didn’t do that second half.”