Ruben Zadkovich was delighted to mark his Derby County debut with a goal in Wednesday night's reserve league cup clash at Walsall.

The Australian finally got some match action under his belt at the Banks's Stadium some five months after being unveiled as a Derby player.

Zadkovich joined in April and missed out on pre-season because of an Olympic Games journey with his country - then returned from Beijing needing a hernia operation.

But he is fit for duty and capped an all-action display with a brave diving header to earn Derby a 2-2 draw against the Saddlers.

"It was obviously hard work as it was my first game after being out for a while but it was good to get out there," Zadkovich told www.dcfc.co.uk.

"For a reserve fixture there was a fast tempo and in patches we played some good stuff, there were a lot of positives and a few things to work on.

"Now I want to get as much game time as I can, I want to train hard to get back to full fitness and just fine-tune everything to make sure my injury is right and I'm not coming back too quickly."

Zadkovich arrived as a Ram with a reputation of versatility and he is at home either in the middle of midfield or at right-back.

He was in the centre of the park at the Banks's Stadium and showed plenty of energy in his 75-minute outing.

"I feel at home in the middle of midfield to be honest," he said.

"I only played at right-back to fill in with the Australian team and did OK, so I stayed there for a while.

"But I do prefer playing in midfield so I can get box-to-box and that is where I want to be playing."