Derby County laid out their stall for the season with a superb tactical performance helping them to a 1-0 win at The Hawthorns. Last season West Brom comfortably held on to their Premier League status by finishing in 13th place and they will have been hoping to get off to a flyer at home to a side just promoted from the Championship and being tipped, by many, to struggle near the bottom of the table. If this performance was anything to go by, then Derby with their disciplined defence and well marshalled midfield will be nobody's pushovers and will certainly spring a few surprise results.
Derby fans packed out the away end
West Brom came out full of fire and started like they meant business with danger man Matri testing Adrian with a well timed strike on 8 minutes. Adrian looks the part and it was a shrewd bit of business by Kinnear to bring the goalkeeper to Derby. The Rams' first serious attack came on 17 minutes when Rincon skinned Golubovic down the right hand side and sent in a cross that seen Bobadilla out-jump the West Brom central defenders and get a header on target. It wasn't a header that troubled Mignolet but it was a warning of how much a handful Bobadilla is going to be this season. Derby were good at holding the ball without causing too much danger. The first yellow of the match came on 25 minutes when Diego robbed Recio in the middle of the park and as he tried to launch an attack, he was caught late by Rincon. An easy decision for the referee to book Rincon. The free kick looked a bit far out for a shot at goal but Diego gave it a go anyway with the ball clearing the bar. The goal kick was a poor one that was picked up by Aaron Hunt and he sent it forward to Diego who made the quick decision to have a shot. Adrian made the save look easier than it was but the main observation here was that Diego seemed to have a shoot on sight policy. It was one that wasn't going down well in the stands with his effort at goal bringing out a few groans. There was no doubt that West Brom were the more positive side with Derby seemingly content to sit back and deny Matri any room to manoeuvre. A good ball from Joe Allen found Gouffran with room out on the right and with Derby reluctant to commit, he found it too easy to saunter into the corner of the box and fire in a shot that, fortunately for the Rams, could have caused Adrian more trouble than it did. The keeper got his body behind the effort and saved comfortably but the threat was enough to bring Kinnear out to the technical area and bark some instructions at his defence. Another attack from West Brom on 32 minutes seen Gouffran sending in a cross that Diego was able to send back across the goal towards Matri, with the Italian striker's header forcing a one handed save from Adrian. The corner came to nothing but the Baggies were chapping on the door. Derby tried to slow the game down and take the sting out of West Brom's play, a ploy that was successful with Yedlin becoming West Brom's first booking of the season after a bit of dissent towards the referee. With no more incident, the referee blew for half time and the teams went off with the score at 0-0.
Johnson and Kinnear out in the technical area
Kinnear would have been the happier of the two bosses with Chris Johnson maybe disappointed that his side hadn't found the net.
With no changes to either line up, the second half started much the same as the first with both sides sparring to see what the other team could come up with. It was predicted that Derby would come out more and try and test West Brom's defensive ability but it was, once again, the home side who looked the more adventurous. On 56 minutes Diego controlled a high ball with a delightful touch and laid it out to Gouffran. The French wide man had been Derby's biggest problem in the first half, and he cut outside Baker, when Baker was expecting a cross, before releasing an angled shot that Adrian had to look smart to get down to and make the save. Derby's first chance of the second half quickly followed when Baker shot down the left and played the ball into Paulinho's feet. The Brazilian turned quickly before playing the ball back into the run of Baker. The young defender then cut inside Yedlin, taking advantage of his earlier booking, before unleashing a shot that was curling into the far corner only for Mignolet to dive to his left and grasp confidently. It was Derby's first real effort since the 17th minute of the first half. Paulinho was starting to come into the game more and a great turn fooled Finnbogason into a foul and the West Brom midfielder was the recipient of a yellow card. Derby were certainly looking more positive and on 63min Compper played a superb ball into the path of Bobadilla, whose first time shot forced Mignolet to save with his body before the ball was cleared by Topal. The game was opening up now and on 66 minutes a cross from Hunt found Allen, and his header was turned round the post by Adrian who looked concerned at the way Allen got in front of his marker. You could sense a goal was coming and it arrived on the 70 minute mark. A good ball into the box from Rincon landed at Bobadilla's feet and he laid it back to the edge of the box for Alex Lopez to fire a shot past Mignolet and into the back of the net. The Smethwick End stand erupted as the Derby players jumped on Lopez. Kinnear jumped off the bench with his arms aloft along with his backroom team.
Lopez scores Derby's first goal of the season
The goal was slightly against the run of play but it was a well taken shot from Lopez and it gave Mignolet no chance. The goal stung West Brom into attack and Matri split the defence with a great pass that found Finnbogason. The man from Iceland slipped past the Derby defender but unfortunately for him, his shot also slipped past the post. It was one where he could have done better but he snapped at the shot. Derby could have shut up shop but they still looked for an opening in the Baggies defence, hoping to put the game to bed. Compper was having a fine game at the back for the Rams and he intercepted a Gouffron pass before playing the long ball to Bobadilla. The Argentine striker controlled the ball and hit it early towards the goal but Mignolet was alert and he managed to hold the ball at the second attempt. Time was running out for West Brom as they probed the Derby defence but there was no way through as Tomkins marshalled them brilliantly. When the referee brought proceedings to a close, the West Brom fans stayed to applaud a good effort by their team, showing they knew that they had tried hard. It was a classic sucker punch that undone West Brom but it's almost certain they wont be the only side to lose that way this season. For Derby, Kinnear will be delighted at the way his team performed. They controlled most of the possession and the defence was disciplined into a hard working unit that looked as though they had played together for years. A great 3 points for Derby in a season where every point will be a prisoner and if they continue to play like this then, it might not be pretty to watch, but it will do the job of keeping them up.
Fannie Licker @ The Hawthorns
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