Jack Marriott scored his first league goal for Derby County to help the Rams to a point against Queens Park Rangers.
After six substitute appearances in the Sky Bet Championship, the forward fired in with great finish in his first league start for Derby, building on his equaliser against Manchester United the week before.
The Rams were forced to settle for a point, however as Geoff Cameron tapped in the equaliser just after the break.
The first 20 minutes were a cagey affair as both teams looked for the opening goal. It was the home team who struck first in the opening minutes as Jake Bidwell sent his header from the far post just wide.
Florian Jozefzoon, who made his way back into the starting line-up then worked to shrug off his man well down the right side of the area before finding Craig Bryson to swing in a cross. However, Joe Lumley was there to grab the danger.
The two sides continued to exchange blows with Massimo Luongo’s strike from range wide again for the R’s. The best chance of the half so far came from Tom Lawrence when his free-kick effort was tipped over by Lumley.
The Welsh winger, returning to the starting line-up for the first time since facing Rotherham United, looked to burst into the box but was taken down just before he reached it to win the free-kick that he elected to take himself.
Moments later, with the Rams on the front foot, the visitors took the lead. Bradley Johnson picked up his second assist of the season when he whipped the ball in from the left. Bryson couldn’t get to it, but it landed perfectly for Marriott to wonderfully rifle in from close range.
Derby kept the momentum going and almost doubled their lead moments later when Lawrence created space well on the edge of the box before firing just wide.
Their upper hand was almost stripped away after half an hour when Nahki Wells struck from outside the box and rattled it off the cross-bar. The Rams took advantage on the counter-attack, moving the ball quickly down the other end for Mason Mount to play the ball through to Marriott but Lumley did well to deny him of a second goal.
In the closing minutes of the half, QPR frantically looked for an answer but the Rams backline held strong to deny them.
It didn’t take long following the break for their equaliser to come however. Four minutes after the restart, Geoff Cameron found himself in the right place at the right time to tap in past Carson. The Rams ‘keeper had just dived to palm away a free kick by Luke Freeman and it landed right for the home side in the box to quickly cross back in for the waiting Cameron.
The Rams looked to wrestle back the momentum and again Jozefzoon looked to dance his way into the box, cut back and got off a shot that went wide. With 20 minutes remaining, Derby had slightly taken control once more calling Lumley in to action to make back-to-back saves to keep the game level.
Richard Keogh glanced a header into the QPR’s ‘keepers hands. He quickly rolled it out for the home side to go on the attack, but they didn’t make it to the half-way line before Marriott showed he could do both by stripping the ball from them for Harry Wilson to make a run. The winger curled the ball from 25-yards out, but Lumley managed to get a hand to it.
The Rams weren’t ready to settle for a draw and with five minutes to play, Mount sliced a low shot on target through traffic in the box, but Lumley got down to scoop it up. Mount then saved the Rams from last minute devastation as he headed away the ball off the line from a QPR corner.
A big strength of Frank Lampard's side is the depth in each position and competition to make the starting XI. Jack Marriott proved that in his first league start of the season.
He snapped up his second goal of the season and first in the league in the first half and almost doubled the Rams lead moments later. But is was also his effort off the ball and his his ability to defend at important moments tht made him stand out.
The forward made to great tackles to prevent QPR going on the counter attack and instead turned it in to opportunities for Derby. Now the proven scorer is off the mark, hopefully the goals keep coming.
Derby County will have a break from Sky Bet Championship action for a fortnight for the second international break, in which a few Rams will be representing their nations. Mason Mount has been called up to England’s senior side while Fikayo Tomori has been selected for the Under-21s. Richard Keogh has again been selected for Republic of Ireland for their upcoming fixtures.
Derby will return to action at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday 20th October to face Sheffield United.
Queens Park Rangers: Lumley; Rangel, Leinstner, Lynch, Bidwell (Wszolek, 27); Cameron, Luongo; Cousins (Hemed, 69), Eze (Smith, 90), Freeman; Wells
Unused Substitutes: Ingram, Scowen, Baptiste, Osayi-Samuel
Derby County: Carson; Bogle, Keogh (C), Tomori, Forsyth; Bryson, Johnson (Huddlestone, 75); Jozefzoon (Wilson, 54), Mount, Lawrence (Waghorn, 77); Marriott
Unused Substitutes: Roos, Malone, Davies, Nugent,
