3/1 To Win
Derby County earned their first home victory of the season with a 3-2 win over Birmingham City at Pride Park Stadium.
In his first start for the Rams since December 2017, Chris Martin opened the scoring in the second minute for his second goal in as many games.
He was then on hand to assist Martyn Waghorn in another lively start after the break and Derby’s number nine coolly struck past Lee Camp to double the lead.
Quickfire goals by Gary Gardner and Ivan Sunjic levelled the score at Pride Park but just as momentum seemed to have switched to the Blues, it returned back to the Rams when Lukas Jutkiewicz’s penalty was saved by Kelle Roos.
Jamie Paterson scored his first goal in a Rams shirt to seal all three points for Phillip Cocu’s side.
The game also saw Curtis Davies make his first league start since last November after returning from a serious Achilles injury and Jayden Bogle came off the bench after almost two months out with an ankle injury.
The Rams looked sharp from the offset and it was Martin who picked up right where he left off after his last-minute equaliser at Leeds United last weekend.
He collected a lovely long ball down from Duane Holmes in the box, controlled in down to his feet off his chest and rolled it past Camp.
The pair linked up again ten minutes later, but this time Martin sent his effort just over.
Five minutes after the restart, Martin sprinted down the middle of the park and shrugged off attempts by Marc Roberts to pull him back. At the edge of the box, the striker laid the ball off for Waghorn who was cool as ever when he went one-on-one with Camp to strike into the bottom right corner.
Moments later, Waghorn was through in the area again, but this time shot just over.
Down the other end, the Blues pulled one back in the 56th minute. Kelle Roos made a good save to deny Dan Crowley from just inside the area, but the resulting corner was turned in by the head of Gardner at the near post.
On the hour mark, the visitors drew level when Sunjic fired into the top right corner from range.
Birmingham had the opportunity to take the lead for the first time in the game on the 70-minute mark when they were awarded a penalty following a foul by Krystian Bielik. Jutkiewicz sent his effort towards the bottom left-hand corner, which Roos went the right way to palm the ball away.
With 15 minutes to go, the Rams were back on top through brilliant team work again. Jack Marriott, straight from off the bench, held off his man and crossed to Paterson on the left. He strode forward with space and struck past Camp into the bottom right corner.
The victory is Derby's second of the season in the league and their first at Pride Park this season to move Cocu's side to 14th in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Next up for the Rams is a midweek trip to face Barnsley on Wednesday, before taking on Luton Town at Pride Park next season.
Derby Counyty: Roos; Lowe, Bielik, Davies (C), Malone; Holmes (Knight, 90), Huddlestone; Waghorn, Paterson, Jozefzoon (Bogle, 71); Martin (Marriott, 71)
Subs: Shinnie, Dowell, Hamer, Clarke
Birmingham City: Camp; Colin, Dean, Roberts, Pederson; Crowley, Gardner (Bellingham, 76), Sunjic, Maghoma; Gimenez, Jutkiewicz
Subs: Stockdale, Harding, Clarke-Salter, Villalba, Mrabti, Bailey
