Derby County vs Nottingham Forest. Sky Bet Championship.
Pride Park StadiumAttendance31,196.
Sunday 15 October 2017 20:53, UK
Matej Vydra scored after just 24 seconds to help Derby County beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 in the East Midlands derby at Pride Park.
Vydra, who was given the nod in attack by manager Gary Rowett, opened the scoring straight from the kick-off as he netted his ninth career goal against Forest.
The hosts then doubled their lead five minutes into the second half when Vydra fed David Nugent and the striker made no mistake with a cool finish for his third league goal of the season.
Derby's win, a record third in a row against their arch-rivals, lifts them above Forest into 13th in the Championship standings, while Mark Warburton's side are 14th.
The Rams made a dream start to proceedings, taking the lead in the first minute of the game as Joe Ledley found Vydra some 25 yards out from goal and the Czech Republic forward spun away before finding the bottom corner with his left foot.
Forest responded well to that setback and really should have gone in on level terms at the break, only for misfortune and bad finishing to deny them.
Barrie McKay was involved on both occasions, with the Scot first striking the outside of the post from distance, before spurning a great chance after being sent clean through on goal by Liam Bridcutt's pass.
However, faced with just Scott Carson to beat, the winger shot straight at the Derby goalkeeper and Forest were made to pay for that miss when their opponents made it 2-0 shortly after the break.
That man Vydra drove powerfully through Forest's midfield, before releasing his strike-partner, and Nugent beat Jordan Smith as Derby once again claimed the Brian Clough Trophy.
The Scotland international enjoyed a fine game operating down the right flank for Derby, with his pace and trickery proving to be a constant thorn in Forest's side.
Gary Rowett: "We wanted to start well, but I did not think we would start that well! We have been guilty in some of the games of, not so much sit off purposefully, but Forest tend to overload their half to get out.
I did not think they created too many obvious chances, the McKay one first half was one where we defended badly, but we actually got in some great positions ourselves.
When we showed a bit more composure to play out, we got in little pockets and got in some great areas. A feeling of relief, because we have played less games than most in the league, it feels like you are always playing catch-up, which of course adds to the pressure."
Mark Warburton: "We gave ourselves a mountain to climb. We come out and concede a goal in less than a minute, which causes a real problem, but it is how we react.
And I thought we reacted and dominated the first half, we had chances, one-on-one with the 'keeper and we have to take our chances. You heard the crowd start to go quiet and that was at 1-0 to Derby.
So we knew we could dominate the football and create chances, and that was the frustration for us to have long periods of good play and numerous chances. But to concede two soft goals - the second goal, we come out, 49th minute, ball under control in the middle of the park and we give it away. And I can't think of many other chances that we have given away."
Derby entertain Sheffield Wednesday, while Forest host Burton Albion, with both fixtures taking place next Saturday afternoon
