3/1 To Win
Harry Wilson put on a shooting masterclass to lift Derby County past Swansea City with a 2-1 victory at Pride Park Stadium.
The 21-year-old struck twice in the first-half to condemn the Swans. His first, a stunning 25-yard rocket that bulked up his personal highlight reel for the season even more.
His second a lovely finish that he tucked into the bottom corner for his fourth goal in the three games following the international break.
Derby’s lead could have been considerably more with chances from Craig Bryson, Mason Mount and Tom Lawrence. However, Swansea scored a consolation goal with six minutes remaining with substitute Leroy Fer nodding past Scott Carson.
The Rams pushed forward from the opening minutes and after just three minutes the home side had found the back of the net, only to be ruled offside. Defending duo Jayden Bogle and Richard Keogh combined on the attacking side when the young full-back pinged a cross to the centre-back by the left post to nod in.
With the goal not awarded, Derby only pushed on more with Swansea looking happy to sit deep and defend in the early stages. Rams looked dangerous again after 20 minutes as Tom Lawrence danced down the left of the box before squaring to Mason Mount who shot wide.
Swansea did creep forward, and it was their shot that then lead to the Rams’s opening goal. The ball landed to Jay Fulton at the right post who struck from close range and Scott Carson parried it away. Derby hit back quickly on the counter-attack and Keogh found Wilson open and the Welshman struck to bag is third goal in three games.
Wilson cut inside before unleashing his killer left foot from 25-yards to stun Erwin Mulder to add another spectacular goal to his season collection.
On the 39th minute Scott Malone and Craig Bryson combined but the midfielder fired just over the crossbar. It was Wilson who doubled the lead with four minutes to go in the half. He controlled a pass well before beating his man and it took his clinical finish to nestle the ball in to the bottom corner.
A furry of chances came for the Rams to open the second-half as Wilson had a hat-trick denied when his first-time shot from inside the box was instinctively batted away by Mulder, Lawrence’s free-kick brushed over the cross bar before Bryson hit a volley just high as well – all within two minutes.
Carson denied the Swans from pulling a goal back on the 50th minute when Oli McBurnie, who has been in-from for Swansea, headed on target to send the Rams No.1 diving to the left to meet his effort.
Wilson looked to share out the scoring with a shifty back-heel pass to Mount as the Welshman reached the six-yard box, but it was a tough ask for the midfielder through the traffic and his left-footed attempt glanced wide.
A frustrated Swansea attempted to carve out an opportunity as substitute Jefferson Montero whipped in a cross, but Carson grabbed it to extinguish the threat. It was Montero again moments later who headed into the side netting from close range.
Fer pulled one back for the Swans in the dying minutes as he headed over the line in a goalmouth scramble.
Derby County: Carson; Bogle, Keogh (C), Tomori, Malone; Mount (Bird, 90), Huddlestone, Bryson; Wilson (Holmes, 90), Nugent (Jozefzoon, 74), Lawrence
Unused Subs: Waghorn, Pearce, Roos, Macdonald
Swansea City: Mulder, Carter-Vickers (Montero, 54), van der Hoorne, Rodon; Roberts, Grimes, Fulton (Fer, 54), John (McKay, 67); Celina, McBurnie, James
Unused Subs: Nordfeldt, Olsson, Asoro, Naughton
UP NEXT…
The Rams head out on the road again to face Wigan Athletic next Saturday at DW Stadium, kick-off 3pm.
The next time at Pride Park Stadium is the East Midlands derby as the Rams host Nottingham Forest on Monday December 17th, kick-off 7:45 pm.
