Derby County vs Middlesbrough. Sky Bet Championship.
Pride Park StadiumAttendance29,443.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Derby County and Middlesbrough at Pride Park on Saturday | Kayden Jackson scores only goal as Rams claim home victory on second-tier return.
Saturday 17 August 2024 16:20, UK
Derby goalkeeper Josh Vickers produced a superb performance as his team dug deep to beat Middlesbrough 1-0 at Pride Park.
Vickers made a string of outstanding saves after Kayden Jackson had punished a Boro mistake to give Derby a first-half lead.
Boro dominated possession and created numerous chances, but a combination of Vickers and poor finishing left them empty-handed.
For Vickers it was a statement display after Derby signed Swedish goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom from Djurgarden on Friday.
His handling was faultless, while the defence in front of him stood firm against wave after wave of Boro attacks.
Derby started the game with Zetterstrom on the bench after his arrival on a three-year deal and, given the quality of Vickers' performance, the Swede might have to wait for an opportunity.
Middlesbrough's latest recruit, striker Tommy Conway, also watched from the bench as his new team-mates went close in the ninth minute, Emmanuel Latte Lath just failing to convert Isaiah Jones's ball at the back post.
But Jones sold his team short with a weak back pass in the 14th minute which allowed Jackson to sprint clear and round Seny Dieng to score.
Derby had to make a change at the back in the 20th minute, with Sonny Bradley coming on as a concussion subsitute for Eiran Cashin, who took a blow to the head.
The red shirts were swarming around Derby's box and Vickers pushed out a shot from Finn Azaz, who was just off target with another effort.
Derby were struggling to live with Boro's movement and Vickers made another fine save to deny Jones in first-half stoppage time.
Azaz again went close at the start of the second half before Vickers tipped over a 25-yard drive from Hayden Hackney in the 65th minute.
Vickers was beaten by a Delano Burgzorg header, but the offside flag was up, while the attacker saw a deflected shot come back off a post minutes later.
It was starting to look like one of those days for Boro as Burgzorg and Hackney fired wide from inviting positions.
Derby were penned back but they defended superbly, throwing bodies in the way, in the face of unrelenting Boro pressure.
The visitors brought on Conway, but the Scot could not provide the cutting edge the visitors lacked as Derby clung on through five nerve jangling minutes of added time to claim their first victory back in the Championship.
Derby's Paul Warne:
"I'll speak to the coaches and the goalkeeping coach, I'll watch Jacob train this week. I'm always the same, I'm always fair on my players and the best players play.
"I have to manage every game like it's my last, because in football management it sometimes is, so I'll pick the team that I think is going to win the game and, if it's Jacob, great, if it's Josh, great.
"They are both very good goalkeepers, which is why I brought Josh to the club and Jacob to the club - and he can sell calendars. He is one handsome man, we've bought like the Swedish James Bond!
"I think we rode our luck at times, I'm not pretending that we didn't, but to win games of football there are a lot of things that come into it.
"We win 1-0 at home and our best player is Josh Vickers. Everything he did today was bang on the money and that's why I brought him to the club, he's an amazing goalkeeper."
Middlesbrough's Michael Carrick:
"Starting the game, we weren't totally at it. There were a couple of bits of sloppy play and then the goal, it's not easy to pull that back.
"I thought we tried, we did some good things at times, created chances and the longer the game goes it becomes frustrating, so obviously disappointed with the result.
"It's no surprise as to how the game panned out, we couldn't do enough today to claw it back, we gave ourselves too much to do.
"We were off it in a couple of moments at the beginning of the game and we've definitely got to get better at that and be a bit more ruthless and smarter at how we start the game, but we'll get there."
