Wolverhampton Wanderers
Goals from David Nugent and Mason Mount ensured that Derby County ended pre-season with an impressive 2-1 victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Pride Park Stadium.
Nugent gave Frank Lampard’s side the lead in the first half, but Diogo Jota brought Wolves level with just over 20 minutes left to play.
Despite the setback, one of the new boys stepped up to make it four wins from five friendlies for the Rams, as Mason Mount slammed home his first goal for the club.
Nugent led the line for Derby and he was sharp from the first whistle, with a pair of chances early in the game.
He struck wide after good work from Mount and Tom Lawrence inside the first five minutes, before heading wide from the Welshman’s cross midway through the half.
Derby fans know all about Ruben Neves’ long-range ability and he tested Scott Carson from outside the box moments later, but the Rams’ No.1 produced an even better stop from Matt Doherty’s header on 25 minutes.
Helder Costa then saw his goal-bound effort cleared off the line and it proved costly when Nugent finally got his goal four minutes before the break.
Richard Keogh’s header was saved brilliantly by Rui Patricio, but the striker was on hand to tap home for his first goal of pre-season.
Wolves introduced Raul Jimenez in place of Leo Bonatini at the break and the forward almost had an immediate impact when he forced Carson into another fine stop.
The visitors did get themselves level with 23 minutes to play when Neves curled an outrageous effort onto the crossbar, with Jota there to slam home the rebound.
Derby soon settled back into their rhythm and deservedly retook the lead just five minutes later after some superb work from substitute Florian Jozefzoon.
The winger ran to the by-line and floated an excellent cross into the path of Nugent, who unselfishly cut back for Mount to strike into the roof of the net.
A flurry of substitutes interrupted the flow of the game late on, but Derby controlled the final moments to secure another pre-season win ahead of the league opener at Reading next week.
Derby County: Carson; Wisdom (Bogle, 84’), Keogh (Pearce, 84’), Davies, Lowe (Forsyth, 79’); Bryson (Jozefzoon, 63’), Ledley (Johnson, 73’), Mount; Wilson, Nugent (Bennett, 75’), Lawrence (Thomas, 81’).
Unused Substitutes: Roos, Mitchell, Jerome.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Patricio (Norris, 62’); Saiss (Bennett, 62’), Coady, Boly; Doherty, Moutinho (Gibbs-White, HT), Neves, Jonny (Giles, 62’); Costa, Bonatini (Jimenez, HT), Jota (Enobakhare, 73’).
Unused Substitutes: Buur, Batth, Hause, Goncalves. Ashley-Seal.
Next Up…
The Rams will get the 2018/19 EFL season up and running on Friday night when they travel to the Madejski Stadium to face Reading - and former boss Paul Clement - in the Sky Bet Championship, kick-off: 8pm.
