Derby County vs Sheffield United. Sky Bet Championship.
Pride Park StadiumAttendance24,597.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Derby County and Sheffield United at Pride Park as two goals from captain Tom Lawrence helped Wayne Rooney's battling Rams to victory
Saturday 15 January 2022 19:30, UK
A terrific Tom Lawrence double earned battling Derby a 2-0 win at home to Sheffield United to boost their hopes of pulling off a great escape yet further.
Lawrence stamped his class on the game in the second half with two outstanding goals to lift County off the bottom of the Championship table.
The Wales international delivered the quality the game had been crying out for by leaving two defenders in his wake before sliding the ball past Wes Foderingham for the opening goal after 69 minutes.
Lawrence then sealed victory nine minutes later with a precise finish from the edge of the area to end United's run of four straight league wins.
Victory made it 13 points from their last five games for administration-hit Derby, who moved above Barnsley and are now just eight points from safety.
The in-form Blades started brightly, breaking quickly in the 12th minute, with Iliman Ndiaye pulling the ball back from the right to Billy Sharp, but his shot was charged down by Richard Stearman.
There was a scare for United two minutes later when Foderingham carried the ball outside his area under pressure from a Derby player, but referee Martin Atkinson ruled he had been fouled.
Derby almost caught United out in the 24th minute when a goal-kick from Ryan Allsop put Lawrence in on the left but his pass went harmlessly across the area.
United had a great chance in the 31st minute when a long throw was flicked on to Sharp, unmarked six yards out, but he headed straight at Allsop.
A half high on effort but low on quality ended with Lawrence winning a free-kick just outside the area, but he was unable to clear the defensive wall.
The pattern continued in the second period, with few openings until Derby won a corner in the 62nd minute and Craig Forsyth looped a header across goal and just wide.
It needed something special to break the deadlock and it duly arrived through a brilliant individual goal from Lawrence.
Picking the ball up on the left, he cut inside past two defenders before placing a low shot across Foderingham and into the bottom corner.
It was a superb effort and Lawrence produced another nine minutes later to put Derby in sight of another victory.
Festy Ebosele broke forward at pace and, when the ball was played across to Lawrence, he curled a shot from the edge of the area into the top right corner.
Derby's Wayne Rooney: "The players deserve a lot of praise, because the last 24, 48 hours have been extremely difficult. To lose two players in Graeme Shinnie and Phil Jagielka who I wanted to keep, have players lined up to come in and not be able to do anything, has been tough, so to put a performance up like they did, they deserve a lot of credit.
"My relationship with all the players is built on trust and honesty, but I can't look them in the eye where we are at the minute and give them anything really, I can just prepare them and get them ready. Any decisions made will be through the administrators. I want to keep all the players, but what I've said to them is that, if you want any information if clubs are in there's nothing I can do, you have to go to the administrators.
"I feared for today if I'm honest, I think this latest one is just one step too far. The result is excellent, but we need help, this needs sorting as soon as possible. I said last week I think we'll stay in this division, but if we're in this situation for much longer it will be extremely difficult for us to do that."
Sheffield United assistant Stuart McCall: "Two bits of individual brilliance won them the game. Second half we had more possession, more of the ball but didn't do anything with it. Most of the game was in their half, but it's not about possession, it's about what you do with it and we just didn't do enough.
"We got into good wide areas, but the crossing wasn't good enough and we weren't bright enough in and around their box. You give the opposition credit for getting bodies in there, but we've to look at ourselves and we didn't do enough. I think the biggest disappointment for me was when we did go a goal down we didn't really look like getting back."
