Green goal helps Derby to win over West Ham
Derby 2 West Ham 1
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce admitted his patched up team paid the price for a disastrous start that gave Derby a deserved 2-1 win at Pride Park.
The Hammers were ravaged by suspensions and injuries and it showed in the first 10 minutes when Derby scored twice through Callum Ball and Paul Green.
Frank Nouble scored his first goal for West Ham just before half time but Derby defended strongly after the break to celebrate back-to-back home wins.
“We didn’t have to put ourselves under that pressure as early as we did,” Allardyce said. “We made a couple of mistakes and Derby took full advantage of that.
“The disaster in the first 10 minutes made it too difficult for us. We didn’t make life easy for ourselves, we knew we were putting a team out that was patched up and the last thing we wanted to do was to give the opposition a couple of goals.
“It knocked the stuffing out of us but we made a great recovery and we didn’t want half time to come. We felt we would get more chances in the second half based on how we finished the first but we didn’t find the quality of finish we have in the past to nick us a draw.”
Ball’s second goal in four games set Derby on their way and manager Nigel Clough showed his appreciation by giving the 19-year-old a big hug when he was substituted at the end.
“Anyone who has watched him in the reserves or the youth team in the last couple of seasons will have seen him doing that regularly but it’s lovely he’s made the progression now and is doing it in front of 28,000 people.
“I thought it was a good all-round centre forward’s performance. I was impressed with the way he put himself around again physically without fouling and we are excited about him as we are about five or six of the lads coming through.
“The last two games have been outstanding team performances, the effort and the honesty stood out an absolute mile and that’s what has got us the two results. We have to play at that level to get results against the likes of Leeds and West Ham.
“It’s only the second time we’ve had the back four we wanted and we feel we have got a side that’s good enough to play in the top half of the Championship when they are out there.”
Derby pressed West Ham from the off and when Nathan Tyson forced an error out of defender Daniel Potts and set up Ball, the striker curled a left foot shot past Robert Green.
More defensive hesitancy allowed Green to score with a diving header when Gareth Roberts crossed from the left in the 10th minute but West Ham steadied themselves and Nouble finished well when Frederic Piquionne put him in three minutes before the interval.
It looked as if that might be the start of a comeback but Derby limited them to half chances in the second half to leave Allardyce eying the transfer window and the return of key players to put their promotion campaign back on track.
