Derby County defeated West Bromwich Albion in a hard-fought match. Wayne Rooney’s side defeated another of the Championship’s elite teams.
The up-for-sale Rams upset the odds again to defeat the punchless Baggies. Having already defeated Stoke City and Bournemouth at home.
A second-half defensive blunder allowed experienced replacement Colin Kazim-Richards the game’s sole goal barely a minute after he came on. Give the Rams their sixth league win of the season.
Albion, who would have finished second if they had won. Had only themselves to blame following several missed opportunities.
Ryan Allsop produced a spectacular late point-blank stop to keep away an injury-time header from Kyle Bartley. Who had previously had another attempt disallowed for offside.
Why could Derby secure a victory against West Bromwich?
As a consequence of the Covid-19 protocol, both teams were missing key players: Graeme Shinnie, Kamil Jozwiak, Phil Jagielka, and Tom Lawrence for Derby, and Alex Mowatt and top goalscorer Karlan Grant for West Bromwich
It was also a match between Derby, who average less than a goal per game in the Championship, and Albion, who have the terrible reputation of being the second tier’s most inefficient finishers – so it was never going to be a high-scoring affair.
While seasoned centre-backs Richard Stearman and Curtis Davies owed much more to Derby’s sixth home clean sheet of the campaign and second in a row. It was still a ludicrous winning goal.
On 58 minutes, after Jayson Molumby’s tried midway line clearing had cut back towards the Albion net, defender Cedric Kipre did not realise until it was almost too late that the Baggies keeper had strayed a yard out of his zone.
Kipre’s strong nod straight at Johnstone’s head pushed the ball side into the direction of the approaching Kazim-Richards. They gratefully tapped into an open net from 20 yards for his first league goal this season.
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