Sims Fires Ewe Rams To Victory In Their Pride Park Debut

Derby County Ladies made their Pride Park debut in style with a 1-0 victory over local rivals Nottingham Forest in the FA Woman’s National League – North.

A Derby Ladies record attendance of 2,106 came out to support the Ewe Rams and were treated to 90 minutes full of action that was topped off with three points.

Amy Sims grabbed the goal for the Ewe Rams during injury time at the end of the first-half to help Derby to their second win out of three to begin the season and remain unbeaten while handing Forest their first defeat.

The first-half began nervy on both sides with chances coming from Derby and Forest in the opening minutes.

Andrea Bell was inches from putting the Ewe Rams ahead after two minutes but was just short as she stretched to tap in the cross by Jodie Redgrave from the left.

Straight down the other end Derby were lucky to escape when Katie Middleton chased down a back pass to Leah Kellogg and got in the way of the Ewe Rams ‘keepers attempted clearance. The deflection bounced just wide.

Derby began to settle in to the game and Bell was persistent in her efforts to cause trouble for Forest’s backline. The forward had back-to-back chances glance wide sandwiched between the Reds’ best chance of the half.

Middleton took the ball around Kellogg to get a look at an open goal, but she found herself at an awkward angle and elected to pass back to Amy Dicken. That gave the Ewe Rams enough time to catch up to defend and after a couple of exchanged passes from the Forest forwards, Dicken found the back of the net but was caught offside.

Bell lead the charge in the final 10 minutes as Derby built momentum. The striker showed her pace as she chased down and won a bad back pass towards the Reds’ ‘keeper but her close range strike hit the side netting.

The Ewe Rams’ pressure paid off moments before the break, when Sims glanced in a powerful header on the end of Hannah Ward’s cross. The goal marked the first time Forest have conceded a goal this season.

The second-half began evenly matched with Forest looking for a way back in to the game. Ten minutes in, Middleton’s outstretched leg couldn’t meet the end of free header across the goal.

Kellogg rushed out to dive down on the ball as Helena Constantinou broke into the box having pulled away from her defender with ten minutes remaining. Forest kept pushing with were unable to find the answer through a short cross to Middleton was an easy save.

In the closing moments, the Ewe Rams were reduced to 10 men after using all the substitutions before Camilla Newton suffered an apparent muscle injury forcing her to leave the game.

That didn’t hamper Derby’s attack as superb strike from range curved just over the bar. A nervy few minutes followed for the Ewe Rams defence as time ran down with Forest piling on pressure in the box.

They held on through six minutes of injury time to remain unbeaten in the FA Woman’s National League – North division after three matches.