Athleticism, acrobatics and aplomb: Fuseini stunner rescues Derby a point

With a cartwheel, back flip and a flex of his muscles, Mo Fuseini sprinted away in celebration. When he received Rhian Brewster’s pass from just behind the halfway line and raced through down the inside-right, the Ghanaian attacker had the weight of his team on his shoulders

After 92 minutes of pedestrian, lacklustre football between two of the Championship’s bottom three, a chance to rescue a deserved point at Turf Moor. The lightning fast forward delivered a finish to match his athletic ability as he smashed the ball across goal and into the bottom-left corner.

It was a perfect execution of the brief he had been given by John Eustace as he came on: that was to, “Play freely, do my job and run in behind a lot,” as Fuseini told BBC Radio Derby.

Relief for a “delighted” Derby boss, who likely had his heart in his mouth during the celebrations too. Fuseini’s somersault was a bold move for a team with so many injury woes already.

He told BBC Radio Derby: “I thought the draw was the least we deserved today. We created some fantastic chances as well. I'm delighted, obviously, to stop the defeats, but I'm also frustrated that we couldn't take all three points.”

The Rams had the first chance of the afternoon after 16 minutes. David Ozoh’s 20-yard strike deflected behind for a corner, from which Dion Sanderson should have scored. Joe Ward’s back post delivery was inch-perfect, but the centre back got his angles all wrong with his header straight back to the full back.

Derby’s struggles from set pieces continued when no one met Carlton Morris’ header back across goal from Alex Mowatt’s free kick. But at the other end, Burnley were not so wasteful. Lucas Pires launched a similar corner to the back post, with Zeki Amdouni allowed a free header by David Ozoh after Josh Vickers mis-timed his attempt to punch the cross clear.

“Ozoh wasn’t tracking and defending properly,” Eustace reflected, as he critiqued “another soft goal”.

Looking to level before the break, the Rams had a flurry of late chances. The sequence began when Ward launched a ball into the channel for Sam Szmodics, who crashed into Clarets goalkeeper Grégoire Coudert as he looked to shoot. With no foul awarded by Steve Martin, Morris was able to clip the ball back to the number 11, whose shot was blocked by Anel Ahmedhodžić with the shot-stopper still down. Bobby Clark’s effort then suffered a similar fate.

Derby started the second half brightly. Ozoh’s role was more adventurous, and it showed instantly as he darted down the left and forced a save at the near post. Sam Szmodics could only scoop a shot over the bar from the resulting corner, though.

Hedges fired wide from a glorious position following Sanderson’s flick-on on the hour which brought Burnley changes that left their visitors hanging on. Belgian winger Largie Ramazani caused all sorts of problems for Derby

First Sondre Langås had to intervene to stop the substitute’s cross finding Amdouni. Sanderson and Ward then denied Ramazani with strong challenges, before he saw an effort deflect behind off Taylor.

Next, Bobby Clark’s long-range effort was tipped wide, while at the other end, Jamie Vardy caused problems for the Rams backline, which included Cory Blackett-Taylor at left back in the final ten minutes.

But it was the combination of substitutes Brewster and Fuseini which proved pivotal before Oscar Fraulo squandered the chance for a winner when he opted to find Szmodics rather than shoot on the break.

A crucial morale boost ahead of a three-week break

Derby remain in the bottom three with much work to be done. That is what the three-week international break will be for. As well as too many soft goals, they have lacked potency going forward and are a shadow of the side we saw last season from set pieces.

But their character has remained excellent. They are united in the belief that they can turn things around.

With so much of their summer business coming later than hoped, Derby have been playing catch-up: Fuseini’s role at Turf Moor typified that.

Eustace told Rams TV: “I felt it was a big ask to start him today from a tactical point of view as well, there’s lots of rotations, lots of movement from Burnley which are always going to cause you issues.”

This cannot be a problem after three weeks more of training. More widely Eustace wants “to obviously get a rhythm of players who we think are going to start most weeks.” ‘Confidence’ in the final third, will no doubt be on the agenda too.

Derby’s game plan was to keep Burnley, a side who are winless since February, at bay. But with Hedges and Clark, they lacked pace and width in transition, which Fuseini made glaringly obvious.

Eustace is not expecting anyone back after the break (presumably bar Henrik Meister, who is following concussion protocols currently) so will have to work with what he has. And this has been weakened even further by Charlie Taylor’s apparent hamstring injury, and the news that Eiran Cashin will miss the next eight weeks with a calf problem.

But the late equaliser gives them some momentum to carry into a crucial period. THE players clearly believe in what they are trying to do.

So, after a performance full of character, and with time to fine tune things at Moor Farm at last, now is the time to kick on. This must be their springboard.

Goals: Amdouni 34’ | Fuseini 90+3’

Burnley (4-2-3-1): Coudert (GK); Roberts, Ahmedhodžić, Julio, Pires (Sonne 89’); Laurent, Alleyene; Edwards (Ramazani 61’), Hatate (Raghouber 61’), Bruun Larsen (Hountindji.73’); Amdouni (Vardy 73’).

Unused Substitutes: Weiß (GK); Sonne, Ekdal, Walker; Broja.

Derby (4-2-3-1): Vickers (GK); Ward, Langås, Sanderson, Taylor (Blackett-Taylor 82’); Ozoh (Brewster 78’), Mowatt (Fraulo 66’); Hedges (Fuseini 66’), Szmodics, Clark; Morris (C).

Unused Substitutes: O’Donnell (GK); Johnston, Offor; Travis, Salvesen.