Mason Mount tasted double delighted in Derby County’s pulsating season-opener at Reading on Friday night.
Playing a pivotal role, the 19-year-old midfielder’s first goal in English football cancelled out Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s header to drag the Rams level, before his debut was capped off by Tom Lawrence’s last-second winner in front of the travelling supporters.
“This is going to stay with me for a very long time,” Mount told RamsTV about his Derby debut.
“It was a very tough game, but I don’t think it could have ended any better. I think we could have played better as a team – we know that – and we will keep working hard as a team to get better.
“Coming here, though, and getting the win in the first game was vital for us. Reading made it tough for us.
“They knew we wanted to play, but we got the result and we can’t be any happier than what we were in that moment.”
Speaking about his goal in more depth, Mount revealed that he had no hesitation in his mind to take a shot.
Catching Vito Mannone, the Reading ‘keeper, short-sighted, his left foot drive snuck into the bottom corner on the hour mark to get Derby level.
After a lacklustre first half, the midfielder and his Rams team-mates were told by Frank Lampard that they had to take more risks in the final third – a sound piece of advice that eventually told.
“The first thing on my mind was to shoot. I didn’t mind it being on my left foot, I just wanted to get out of my body and hit it,” Mount said.
“Looking back, the ‘keeper may think he could have done better, but I won’t worry myself with that. It’s great to get my first goal in English football on my debut. I’m very happy with that.
“In the first half, we didn’t take as many shots as we should have done. In the second, though, we knew we needed to take more risks and test the ‘keeper more.
“We did that and obviously I got my rewards. Harry (Wilson) could have had a goal too, we had another disallowed, so we could have quite easily had four goals in that second half.
“That’s a big positive to take into our second game.”
Lampard and his team will now turn their attention to their first home game of the season when they take on historic rivals Leeds United at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday 11th August, kick-off: 5:30pm.
Whilst the Rams will take a moment to enjoy their win over the Royals, Mount says it will not be long before the focus will turn to the meeting with Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
“There’s no better feeling than getting that last-minute winner,” he said.
“At the moment, we are very happy, but moving into the next game we will refocus for what will be our first home game of the season. We want to get that off to a good start as well.”