“Very much together”: Rams secure Bramall Lane point after Zetterström’s heroics
Bravo to the travelling Rams fans who braved the yellow-warning-worthy weather to travel to Bramall Lane.
If only Dion Sanderson had heeded his.
A goal to the good thanks to Bobby Clark, Derby were relatively in control when the centre back went in on substitute Femi Seriki as he led a Sheffield United counter down their left. Some will argue it was soft, but with Ryan Hedges and Sam Szmodics covering, the challenge was needless. And it left referee Steve Martin with a decision to make after an earlier poor challenge on Tahith Chong.
That decision was a second yellow, leaving Derby’s sparse defensive options further exhausted; they now lacked a fully fit senior centre back. So exhausted, in fact, that captain Carlton Morris spent much of the final 24 minutes plus stoppage time playing there.
Forget Austen and Boelo, with the breeze and rain already against the visitors, Storm Donovan was incoming. Sensing an opportunity, Chris Wilder threw caution to the swirling wind, introducing 19-year-old winger Romelle, alongside veteran Ghana striker Jordan Ayew.
The Brentford loanee was bright in stormy conditions, unleashing a thunderous effort from distance following a second successive corner, which Jacob Widell Zetterström tipped away from danger.
But there was nothing that the former Djurgården man, making his first appearance since suffering a knee injury against Birmingham six weeks ago, could do to prevent the equaliser. Lifting the ball over a crowd of players from the right flank, Donovan’s teasing ball was bundled in at the back post off the knee of Patrick Bamford.
There was little celebration, with concern from the home faithful for the former Rams loanee, who had fallen on his previously injured shoulder in the process of levelling. Against a back three consisting of former Blade and Derby debutant Jack Robinson, alongside Morris and Ryan Nyambe, though, there was a sense that another opportunity would come.
But Eustace’s men thought otherwise. As much as they certainly were on paper, Nyambe, who has apparently played at centre back five times and striker Morris did not look like makeshift options. Particularly when they made big blocks to deny hosts’ skipper Japhet Tanganga and Sydie Peck respectively with five minutes to play.
“You have to think outside the box sometimes,” Eustace told BBC Radio Derby.
Into seven minutes of stoppage time, and this was when Zetterström really earnt his money. Sweden’s number one made a string of top class saves to preserve parity. The first was genuinely world class, diving down to his left to tip the turning Tyrese Campbell’s half-volley onto the bar with his left hand.
Then there was the denial of Donovan followed by a spectacular double stop. From a free kick 10 yards from the byline on the right, Kalvin Phillips cut the ball back for Harrison Burrows, whose 12-yard effort was met by the Swede’s left glove. He then showed stellar reactions to push Campbell’s follow-up away with his right mere seconds later.
“He's a top goalkeeper and one of the best in the league and pulls two fantastic saves off at the end,” Eustace said, if anything underplaying the importance of his goalkeeper.
But perhaps that was a deliberate move to keep focus on the collective. A running theme of the Derby head coach’s post-match media round was that his side are “very much together”.
After a slow start to the match, Derby looked more like the side from last season, which Eustace has said is the goal. Troubling opponents in transition with flying full backs and playing for set pieces. Morris imposing himself on opposition defenders, holding the ball up and flicking it on to willing runners such as Szmodics in the ten, or a rangy nuisance in the inside left. Henrik Meister had his best game in black and white by some margin and could have scored moments before Clark’s opener.
The goal was a slick move, with Meister winning the ball in the middle before Morris fed it to Szmodics in the inside left. His deft pass found Hedges in line with the left edge of the six-yard box, who hit the post. And with Cooper over committed, Clark could fire high into the net from 15 yards, this time unopposed after being denied by the keeper at full stretch three minutes earlier.
Clark shone as an ‘eight’ next to Ozoh. Back in a slightly deeper role, he was able to be more involved in build-up and put a defensive shift in making nine recoveries. But crucially, arriving from deeper made him more of a goal threat. 0.57 xG is his second highest match total of the season (behind a total of 0.60 in the Cardiff draw, when he also scored). This despite having taken the most shots of any Derby player on multiple other occasions this season.
But again, the main takeaway here is not individuals, it is the team. Had Derby been able to continue with 11 men and won, this would have been seen as a long overdue springboard and some evidence that returning key players can lift a side.
Battling to hold onto a point with ten men shows so much more. A return to the ‘fighters not victims’ spirit that has been a hallmark of Eustace’s Rams at their best. And a perfect illustration of how vital Zetterström is to this side.
After receiving the “full support” of David Clowes in the week, this performance emphatically dispelled the myth that Eustace had lost the dressing room. With these levels of desire and performance, the Rams have now set a benchmark regardless of injuries.
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