3/1 To Win
Andreas Weimann was within a couple of minutes of being Derby County’s matchwinner on Tuesday evening.
The Austrian forward’s clinical first-half strike had Derby on course to claim a vital three points on the road at Loftus Road against Queens Park Rangers.
However, with three minutes left, Massimo Luongo headed home to earn the hosts a share of the spoils.
The late goal was a bitter pill to swallow after the Rams had produced a near-perfect defensive display in West London.
The result sees Derby remain fifth and very much in the Sky Bet Championship’s promotion race with 10 games left to play in the regular league campaign.
They have drawn four and lost two of their last six outings and Weimann admitted that the Rams’ players were bitterly frustrated in the dressing room at not being able to hold on for all three points.
He told RamsTV: “It’s another point but it’s just so frustrating that we haven’t got the win we all wanted.
“We spoke about it in the dressing room afterwards and we can’t put our finger on why we’re not getting the results right now. We’re trying to do the same things that we were doing when we were winning games, especially in December and January.
“We just can’t seem to see games through at the minute but we need to keep going. With 10 matches left there’s plenty of points left to get but we need to get a win as soon as possible.”
He added: “We knew QPR would look to get the ball into Matt Smith and play off him; so we had to compete for second balls.
“We got through that in the first 20 minutes or so especially and limited them to very few opportunities. We managed to get the ball down and play a bit after that and we showed that with the goal.
“We felt comfortable to be honest in the second half and the majority of their shots came from distance. It’s just frustrating that we gave a silly free-kick away and then didn’t mark in the box for the equaliser.”
Weimann’s 38th minute strike was his fifth goal of the campaign and came after good work by on-loan Chelsea attacker Kasey Palmer.
The frontman has scored twice in his last four outings and was pleased to get on the scoresheet once again as he looks to further cement his place in the side.
The 2015 signing from Aston Villa was quick to praise Palmer’s part in the goal after he drove at the home defence before slipping a fine through-ball into Weimann’s path to lash past Alex Smithies.
He said: “Kasey did brilliantly for the goal and it was probably the first time in the game that we got the ball into his feet.
“He turned the defender really well and put them on the back foot. For me, it was all about timing my run and he played the perfect pass for me.
“After that it was a case of making sure I hit the target and beat the goalkeeper. Luckily I managed to do that and it was pleasing to see the ball hit the net.”
Derby return to Championship on Sunday when they make the short trip across Brian Clough Way to take on local rivals Nottingham Forest at the City Ground (2:30pm kick-off).
The Rams were 2-0 winners when the sides met at Pride Park Stadium back in October thanks to goals from Matej Vydra and David Nugent.
Weimann believes the local derby clash with the Reds could the perfect game for Gary Rowett’s side as they look to return to winning form.
He said: “It’s a big game for us on Sunday.
“We know everyone will be fired up for it and hopefully we can get an important win to turn things around for us.
“Local derby matches are normally tough and tight games and we know what the atmosphere will be like. We just want to get the win.”
