Derby County vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
Pride Park Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Derby County and Bristol City at Pride Park as Colin Kazim-Richards' early strike proves to be the winner for the Rams
Saturday 30 January 2021 19:42, UK
Derby's climb away from trouble in the Championship continued as they beat Bristol City 1-0 at Pride Park to secure a third straight victory under Wayne Rooney.
An early goal from Colin Kazim-Richards, his fifth of the season, was enough to secure the points although the victory was marred by what appeared to be a serious injury to Polish midfielder Krystian Bielik.
Bielik, who has been a key figure in Derby's recent revival under Rooney, was taken away on a stretcher in the first half.
City had a chance to equalise through Famara Diedhiou but created few chances and Derby were good value for another win, leaving them five points above the drop zone.
Derby had scored only six goals in 13 home games but they added to that in the opening five minutes.
Lee Buchanan delivered a superb cross from the left in the fourth minute and Kazim-Richards arrived at the far post to fire high into the roof of the net.
City had been pushed back by Derby's positive start and they were fortunate not to concede again when Max Bird's shot from the edge of the box rebounded off a post in the 15th minute.
Derby were dominating and they carved out another chance six minutes later when Graeme Shinnie's cross reached Kamil Jozwiak at the back post but Daniel Bentley blocked the Pole's low shot.
City had a chance to regroup when there was a lengthy stoppage after Bielik, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, went over near the right touchline and was stretchered off in the 36th minute.
When play resumed, there was certainly more urgency about City and David Marshall had to beat out a cross from Antoine Semenyo.
It was much better from City who ended the half on the front foot with Alfie Mawson heading at Marshall in added time.
City had a good chance in the 51st minute when Jack Hunt crossed from the right but Diedhiou failed to get decent contact on his header.
Bentley was lucky when he misjudged a cross in the swirling wind but recovered to scramble the ball clear before Derby could pounce.
The 'keeper escaped again in the 74th minute when he dropped a corner but Adrian Mariappa hooked the ball off the line.
Bentley redeemed himself four minutes later when he kept City in the game by turning over a deflected shot from Martyn Waghorn.
The visitors had been better since the break but had not seriously tested Marshall until a free-kick fell to Mawson whose low shot forced the Scotland international into a diving save in the 85th minute.
Derby's Wayne Rooney: "I think overall we deserved the win. We started the game very well, for 25, 30 minutes we were excellent, moved the ball well on a tricky pitch, created some good chances.
"We are where we are and I'm not really focused on the league table at the minute. It's great we've gone on a good run since the Rotherham game, nine points, but we've got a very important game against Rotherham coming up on Tuesday and I think that will be a big turning point in our season if we win that game.
"I'm delighted with the form of the players but we now have to focus on Tuesday and get ready to go into a very tough game "
Bristol City's Dean Holden: "Nowhere near the level we would expect in our performance. They were the better team today, no doubt about that but all over the pitch our performance levels weren't what they've been in the last couple of games.
"We just didn't seem to have a spark in our performance and that's surprising because in the last couple of games we've had some really good performances. We've had performances like that this season, we've struggled at times and if you are going to maintain a promotion push you've got to look for those consistent levels."
