Derby County vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
Pride Park StadiumAttendance27,426.
Saturday 21 October 2017 18:52, UK
The pressure increased on Sheffield Wednesday head coach Carlos Carvalhal after his team were beaten 2-0 at Derby and had skipper Glenn Loovens sent off on Saturday.
Wednesday have now won only one of their last six games and they were struggling from the moment Loovens brought down Matej Vydra who scored from the penalty spot in the fifth minute. The Owls, however, showed spirit and stayed in the match until the 86th minute when substitute Bradley Johnson sealed Derby's victory.
Derby stuck with the team that beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday, but Wednesday made three changes from the defeat at Bolton, with Kieren Westwood returning in goal.
Vydra scored after 24 seconds against Forest and he was involved in another dramatic start when he burst into the box in the fourth minute and was fouled by Loovens, who was shown a red card by referee Scott Duncan.
Vydra then sent Westwood the wrong way with the penalty to leave 10-man Wednesday in serious trouble on a ground where they had not won in almost 12 years.
It nearly got worse for the visitors when Derby broke in the 13th minute, with David Nugent playing in Tom Lawrence who lifted the ball over Westwood, but his effort hit the left post.
Derby got in again minutes later when Westwood came out of his area and just took the ball away from Richard Keogh, who protested the goalkeeper had handled.
There was encouragement for Wednesday in the 24th minute when Gary Hooper got in on the right but the angle was tight and Curtis Davies slid in to put the ball behind.
Derby were given another reminder the game was far from over in the 31st minute when Ross Wallace swung over a corner which Steven Fletcher headed down past Scott Carson, but the ball bounced just over the angle.
Wednesday had a penalty shout in the 41st minute when Fletcher appeared to be tripped by Craig Forsyth after he got in front of the left back, but this time the referee was unmoved.
Johnny Russell forced Westwood into a diving save just before the break, only to be booked after the restart for diving, but the Scot nearly set up a second with a curling cross that Vydra put wide in the 57th minute.
Westwood denied Russell from close range two minutes later, and Carson turned away a Barry Bannan shot before Chris Martin's flick in the 71st minute was saved by Westwood's right foot.
Derby were far from convincing but after Bannan had gone close from 25 yards, they finally put the game away in the 86th minute when Russell played in Johnson who turned to beat Carson from 10 yards.
Gary Rowett: "I've really mixed feelings. I gave the players a piece of my mind at half-time because it was really, really sloppy. It can happen like that against 10 men but I wasn't happy after the game either. It was good play by us for the penalty but they also felt they could have had a penalty, it looked an obvious penalty, I'm not sure why Fletcher would go down in that position if it wasn't.
"We were better second half, marginally, but I was certainly very pleased to get the second goal. I said to the players at half-time, 'you're very lucky it's 1-0 because it could easily have been 1-1'. But there's a lot more to come from us, there's a lot to improve on in the team and I thought we would get better as the season progresses."
Carlos Carvalhal: "There were two situations, because Gary Hooper's looked like a penalty also and this is the fourth game in a row where we have critical decisions against us. (The Loovens incident) seemed like a penalty and a red card but when we have a similar situation, it makes a massive impact because it could be 1-1 and Derby will play with 10 players.
"I don't know if I'm more upset that the referee doesn't give the penalty or what he says to Fletcher because he says to Fletcher 'I saw that he push your shirt but you must stay up', which I think is bad in my opinion. But I know my players and after this game, with this performance and what we did by showing the heart and commitment, it makes me believe the future will be better."
