Two goals and a Man of the Match display from Derby County’s Tom Lawrence helped the Rams defeat Middlesbrough 2-0 at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
His first goal of the game came on 22 minutes as he finished off a lovely flowing move from the edge of the box. He played a neat one-two with Chris Martin and fired low into the back of the net to put Derby ahead.
After Middlesbrough were reduced to 10-men, with George Saville shown a straight red card before half-time, the Rams dominated for large parts of the game and they were finally rewarded in the final minutes.
Lawrence's second of the game came as a fine reward for his persistence and speaking to RamsTV after full-time, he was delighted to help Derby to all three points.
“I couldn't ask for a better day, to be fair,” he said. “We won 2-0, it was nice to get two goals but we got the three points which is the main thing.
“I don’t think we have been clinical enough in recent games and in this game we should have scored four or five so we need to tighten up on that and finish games off earlier.
“Normally when teams go down to ten men they play better, but I thought we did well today. We managed the game well, kept playing and then the second goal came.”
The forward almost had himself a hat-trick as he was presented with a chance in the final minute of the game but the Boro goalkeeper denied him.
“I thought it had to go in but the goalkeeper made a good save and it wasn’t to be. I’ll take the two goals and three points,” Lawrence admitted.
It was Martin’s lay off which set up the first goal for Lawrence, whilst Jayden Bogle provided the assist for his second and the forward paid tribute to both players.
“That is Chris Martin’s strength,” he commented. “I can bounce balls off him. He is great with his feet so it worked well.
“I thought Jayden Bogle was outstanding today. He’s a great young lad and he keeps working and working and created the chance for me in the end which I managed to finish off. I took a touch and little faint and managed to get it in in the end.”
And next week, the Rams travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in their final fixture before the November international break.
“We all know how big this game is coming on Saturday so we will be ready for it,” Lawrence admitted.