Sports
DERBY could have been even better off before half-time if not for a fine save from Nicolas Schmid to deny Jerry Yates.
Pompey’s night in the East Midlands only got more miserable after the interval, with the energetic Harness rattling the visitors’ defence as he burst into the box before drilling a low ball into the path of backtracking defender Pack, who could only thump it into his own net.
James Collins came off the bench to head just wide in search of a fifth for Derby, while Schmid went on to claw the ball off the line late on to ensure a defensive mix-up did not result in backpass from Abdoulaye Kamara dribbling into his own net.
Derby climb to 14th in the table, seven points clear of the drop zone, while Portsmouth are only out of the bottom three by virtue of having scored more goals than Cardiff.
Pride in ‘headline-grabbing win’ – reaction
Derby County head coach Paul Warne told BBC Radio Derby:
“I’m really pleased, there were some good performances within it. I didn’t think we had as much control as the scoreline suggested in the first half.
“I don’t think we played better tonight than we have in any other home game, it’s just that goals change games and fortunately tonight we were on the right side of those chances.
“The lads are really confident, and I can say that because I’m with them all the time.
“They are not, not confident – they know they are a good team. We have been excellent at home, and we have been competitive away from home.
“In the last three games [at Leeds and Burnley before the Portsmouth game] I’ve been proud of each performance, but obviously this one gets headlines because we have won.”
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent:
“It all went wrong from the start really. Coming here was always going to be difficult on a Friday night, but we invited pressure with a couple of really poor decisions early on.
“It was a really strange first half, there wasn’t a huge amount in it but every time Derby went forward they looked like scoring.
“We actually settled into the game okay after we went a goal down, but the second from a set-piece is really disappointing – I think we could do better from every phase of it.
“And after that, when it’s 3-0, we huffed and puffed in the second half and had a couple of very minor chances, and once we didn’t convert one of those we don’t get back into the game at all.
“I always thought there was a chance at 3-0 to get a goal to get back into the game, but at 4-0 it could have been more after that.” – bbcsport
A.I
Dec. 14, 2024
Tags: Jerry Yates Nicolas Schmid
