Derby County vs Wycombe Wanderers. Sky Bet Championship.
Pride Park Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Derby County and Wycombe at Pride Park as Duane Holmes puts the Rams in front but Matt Bloomfield earns a point for the Chairboys to deny Wayne Rooney's side
Saturday 28 November 2020 18:42, UK
Wayne Rooney's first game as interim manager of Derby ended in frustration when a late goal earned Wycombe a 1-1 draw at Pride Park.
Rooney saw his side score for the first time in nearly eight hours but they could not add a second and remain bottom of the Championship.
Duane Holmes ended the drought with a clever finish but Wycombe improved after the break and levelled through Matt Bloomfield's close-range effort.
Rooney left himself out of the squad as he made seven changes from the team that lost 3-0 at Middlesbrough on Wednesday night.
Derby had gone 437 minutes without scoring but, after a shapeless start, they had a good chance in the 14th minute when Louie Sibley headed an Andre Wisdom cross over from eight yards.
Wycombe were forced into a change when Curtis Thompson was unable to continue and they had goalkeeper Ryan Allsop to thank for twice denying Derby in the space of 60 seconds.
He turned behind a drive from Holmes in the 23rd minute and, when the corner was flicked on, Allsop reacted brilliantly to claw away George Evans' header.
Wycombe had their first attack in the 28th minute which ended with Garath McCleary firing into the side-netting but Derby had the ball in the net in the 34th minute only for an offside flag to deny Colin Kazim-Richards.
But the striker was involved when Derby scored two minutes later, driving in a low cross which Holmes back-heeled past Allsop.
It was a goal Derby deserved for a first-half performance which had been a big improvement, especially in the final third.
Wycombe brought on Adebayo Akinfenwa for the second half and the striker had his team's first effort on target with a looping header at David Marshall.
The visitors were asking more questions of Derby but the home side broke dangerously in the 61st minute with Holmes forcing Allsop into a diving save.
Derby had a great chance to ease any nerves six minutes later when Matt Clarke met a Tom Lawrence corner but headed wide.
Clarke had another chance in the 76th minute when he again climbed to power in a header that Allsop saved and Craig Forsyth's follow-up was cleared off the line.
That proved a big moment because Wycombe equalised in the 81st minute when Marshall could only parry a Fred Onyedinma header at the back post and Bloomfield slid in to score.
It could have been even worse for Derby when McCleary's shot in stoppage time came back off the underside of the bar and just failed to cross the line.
Derby's interim boss Wayne Rooney: "We were a little bit more direct than we have been in recent weeks. Today we had to change something from the way we have been playing. I felt the experience coming into the team was vital, I wanted experienced players on the pitch who know the league and to try and get the ball forward quicker than we have done in recent games.
"I think that was needed today. I can sit here and say we want to play football, make 600, 700 passes a game but at the minute the players aren't in that frame of mind and aren't confident enough to do that so the important thing for me was to try and simplify the game for the players and to get the ball forward.
"We created chances and went in at half-time 1-0 up and I stressed to the players how important the second goal is and we paid the price for not getting that second goal. But I have to remain positive, it's a point, we've stopped the run of losing games and it's a point we have to build on."
Wycombe's Gareth Ainsworth: "Derby definitely had the first half but second half, I thought we were the better side and for me, it's a huge point against a club that I don't believe will be in the bottom three come the end of the season.
"We celebrated a point in League One away at Sunderland two years ago like it was the best thing that this club had ever done so to come to somewhere like Derby County and get a point I think is just phenomenal for Wycombe Wanderers."
