Derby County got their first point away from home in the Championship this season when they tied Millwall 1-1.
Before Mihailo Ivanovic scored, Jerry Yates’ first goal for the club since coming on loan from Swansea looked like it would give the Rams all three points.
The Derby got off to a good start, but it quickly turned into a dull game where neither team could find any real flow in the final third. When George Honeyman ran into the box, Millwall may have looked like they had the best chance to score.
While Neil Harris’ team tried to turn the screw, he made one save from Jacob Widell Zetterstrom and then another save from Macauley Langstaff. Derby began to make their impact known when Kenzo Goudmijn sent a great cross into the box that Yates just missed.
The Rams’ scorer did have a chance to score before halftime, but his shot went over the bar after he set up Corey Blackett-Taylor. The game got a little more exciting after halftime, and Derby should have taken the lead when Eiran Cashin set Blackett-Taylor up, but his shot went wide of the post. Langstaff tried to get an instant response for Millwall, but Zetterstrom blocked the former Notts County forward with an outstretched leg.
However, Paul Warne’s team scored the first goal when Mendez-Laing flicked in a corner and Yates scuffed it over the line for his first goal of the season. But while Derby were looking to snatch all three points, Ivanovic levelled when he ran clean through, rounded Zetterstrom and slotted in the equaliser.Whatever Derby County go on to achieve in the Championship this season, it’s safe to assume this drab 1-1 draw won’t make the highlights come the end of the term.
Derby were involved in better games in League One last season than what we all watched at the New Den in a contest that Warne admitted was not a “classic”. Nobody could really disagree with that statement, as both sides were as guilty as each other in treating the ball as if it had a bomb inside it.
Neither goalkeeper was truly overworked, and there were careless passes, plenty of midfield skirmishes, and very little quality in the closing third from both teams. But Derby are at least up and running when it comes to picking up points on the road after facing some of the best the Championship has had to offer away from home in these opening 10 games.
Now that the wait is over, Derby head to Oxford on Tuesday, looking to make further progress in their quest to be the team nobody wants to host. They do so with Warne’s advice ringing in their ears: to believe in themselves a bit more, especially in the final third. Derby managed just one shot on target across the 90 minutes here, and that proved to be the goal. They will need more than that across the course of the season, and the frustrating part is we know they have the ability, given some of the performances at Pride Park.
Yates is up and running
Yates has quickly established himself as a favourite on Derby’s terraces, which is due to his incessant work rate and some real intelligence along the frontline. You get the idea the striker would chase a crisp packet in the wind and he epitomises how Warne wants his team to play when it comes to pressing out of possession.
But strikers are always judged on goals and there has been a real desire to see Yates’ hard work be rewarded since moving from Swansea on a season-long loan deal in the summer.
He has come close in wins over Bristol City and QPR and when you are a centre forward you get to the stage where you will take a goal no matter how scruffy it is. While Saturday’s rushed effort won’t win any goal of the season awards, it was vitally important for Yates to break that duck.
The celebrations and how the rest of the players lifted him in the air showed how much he is respected in the dressing room and told its own story. Warne said the reaction was like Caesar had returned victorious from battle. That shows you how highly he is respected by his peers and the fans will always back you as long as you put your bundle in. And he certainly does that.
Millwall myth busted
Millwall have earned a reputation as having one of the most hostile grounds in the country, and there has been plenty of talk about its formidable atmosphere, which has been passed down through the generations. But this game didn’t quite have the noise level from the home ends that some might have expected.
Maybe the product on the pitch had an effect, given that there was little to shout about in the way of chances. In the main, it was a bitty, tightly fought game that only flickered into life once Yates scored the opener late on in the second half.
Derby were certainly given plenty of backing, having taken close to 3,000 fans in what was a fantastic show of support and only second to Blackburn in terms of the biggest following away from Pride Park this season, They comfortably gave as good as they got when it came to raising the decibel levels.
Millwall had their moments, with the normal chants of ‘no one likes us’, but it wasn’t the kind of atmosphere that left Derby feeling the heat.
Other than that, it was strangely quiet for a club that has always had such vociferous support. The feeling that the New Den is as formidable as it was thirty-odd years ago, and based on this proof, doesn’t ring true.
Nyambe hope
Ryan Nyambe is one of those players who doesn’t really come off injured unless there is a major problem which is why his substitution in the first half was a concern.
He is set to receive a scan on Monday, and everybody of the black-and-white persuasion will be hoping he has done nothing serious. Paul Warne is usually a pretty good judge, and when asked if it was a contact injury, he shook his head and said he thinks he has tweaked something in his knee.
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