Lampard Backing Lawrence To Shine

Frank Lampard believes there’s still to come from Derby County’s in-form attacker Tom Lawrence.

Lawrence has started the 2018/19 campaign in fine form with three goals to his name from his first four appearances.

The Wales international forward is already halfway to equalling his goals tally for the entirety of last season.

He struck the injury-time winner at Reading with a fine header and, since then, has backed that effort up with goals direct from free-kicks against Leeds United and Ipswich Town.

Lampard has been pleased with the former Manchester United youngster’s early-season form – but believes there’s still more to come from the 24-year-old.

He told RamsTV: “Tom Lawrence deserved his goal the other night against Ipswich after producing another strong performance. He is striking the ball well and he’s already got three goals for us from his first four games.

“I think there’s a lot more in him and I believe he can score more. I’m not just talking about free-kicks, he can score goals and we’re working on that with Tom.

“His all-round game was really, really good on Tuesday night. He needs to keep going and improving.”

Lawrence’s all-round game saw him named as the Rams’ Man of the Match against Ipswich in midweek.

As well as having an impact at the top end of the pitch, he received praise from his manager for his work rate out of possession.

He said: “He worked very hard for the team once again and sometimes doing that isn’t associated with an attack-minded player.

“We demand it (hard work) here and Tom gave it. He was big enough, as well, to take the ball in areas, move it and get us out of trouble when he was in tight areas.”