Wed 24 Aug
Time to read: 3mins
Max Lowe hopes his senior Derby County debut is just the start as he starred for the full 120 minutes to help the club secure their place in the Third Round of the EFL Cup.
The Rams defeated Carlisle United 14-13 on penalties after the Sky Bet League 2 side had forced extra time with an added time strike from Mike Jones, which cancelled out Darren Bent’s opener at the iPro Stadium.
An epic encounter, it is a game that Lowe will not be forgetting anytime soon after Nigel Pearson, the Derby manager, named him in the starting line-up for the meeting with the Cumbrians.
The 19-year-old academy graduate told Rams Player HD: “It’s one to remember, especially with the penalties and extra time. It was a great game to be involved in for my debut.”
Speaking on the build-up to his debut, the full back added: “The boss pulled me to one side 20 minutes before we went up for the warm up and told me that I would be playing left midfield so that myself and Marcus Olsson could interchange.
“I then had a bit of time to get my head around that and take it in my stride.
“I was nervous during that warm up. Once the game started, though, I actually relaxed and Scotty Carson and Richard Keogh really helped prior to kick-off too. Hopefully this is just the start for me.
“With my hamstring injury last year, I possibly have had to wait a little longer for this. It was a big achievement for me to do it early on this season, but hopefully this isn’t the last.”
Taken right to the wire, Lowe and the rest of the Derby squad had to endure 120 minutes of football before the epic penalty shootout.
His last kick on his debut was to convert one of the penalties in sudden death, before Timi Max Elsnik, also making his full Derby debut, stepped up to convert the winner after Joe McKee’s effort had been saved by Carson.
Talking on Elsnik, Lowe also believes that his Under 23s team mate has a ‘big future ahead of him’.
He added: “It felt like we were out there for an eternity. After the first five penalties there was no real order to who was taking them and Rich (Keogh) asked me to take one.
“It was a long walk up, but I picked one corner and I just stuck with it. I treated it as though it was a training session and didn’t change my mind. Timi (Elsnik) did that, but luckily it went in for him.
“He’s a good player. He’s a year younger than me too and he did really well. He nearly scored before the winning penalty and he is someone who has got a big future ahead of him.”
