3/1 To Win
Derby County Under-23s continued the hard pre-season work with a 2-1 victory over Lincoln City on a hot afternoon at the Training Centre in partnership with the University of Derby.
A trialist broke the deadlock in the opening minutes for the Rams before a wonderful strike by Calum Macdonald to double the lead before the break in a dominant performance. The Imps pulled one back moments after the restart but struggled to find other opportunities as Derby held strong.
The young Rams were lively from the offset and within four minutes they had already taken the lead. Alex Babos and Jayden Mitchell-Lawson linked up to win the ball high up the pitch with the latter crossing to a trialist to bury in the opening goal.
Fifteen minutes later and the lead was doubled. Babos flung a corner into the box which was headed to Macdonald on the edge of the box by Jordan Brown.
The left-back struck the half-volley sweetly and fired it into the bottom corner.
Four changes came at half-time for Darren Wassall’s side as they continued to ramp up pre-season preparations. Josh Barnes, Tyree Wilson, Cameron Cresswell and Kyle McAllister replaced Matt Yates, Josh Shonibare, Connor Dixon and the goalscoring triallist.
Just minutes after the restart, however, and Lincoln pulled one back. Ten minutes later and Barnes was tested again as an effort flew towards the top right corner. The Rams’ stopper dived to palm it away and retain the lead.
Derby weathered a more difficult test from the Imps to open the second-half and again were driving forward. Mitchell-Lawson and Wilson combined brilliantly to play Cresswell in behind who couldn’t find the target after rounding the keeper.
Another substitution came with 20 minutes to play and Javaun Splatt looked to make an immediate impact drawing an instinctive save by Lincoln’s keeper.
