Malone Felt "Fantastic" In His Return To The Starting XI

Scott Malone said it was “fantastic” to make his way back in the starting XI and for the first time at Pride Park Stadium as a Ram.

The left-back didn’t skip a beat in his return to the starting line-up for the first time since Hull City after being kept out through injury and tough competition in his position from Craig Forsyth.

Malone, who admitted he wasn’t fully match fit for the start of the season, said he has been putting in the work behind the scenes to get the opportunity and fight for his place back in the squad.

“It was fantastic, I think I came back from injury four or five games ago now and it has been hard watching.

“I’ve been working hard at the training ground. I don’t think I was quite match fit at the start of the season, so I went away and worked hard and I am happy to get the 90 minutes under my belt.”

There was no easing in to his return, however. Both the Rams and Canaries have enjoyed strong starts to their seasons and meetings between the sides in recent years have always proved to be close fought matches.

This was no different, but it was Timm Klose who struck first in the second-half to put Norwich ahead. Derby kept fighting and eventually, four minutes from time, Craig Bryson found the back of the net from the end of a cross by Martyn Waghorn to grab a point.

The 25-year-old believed a draw was a fair outcome from a “cagey” match.

“I thought it was a fantastic game, two really good teams trying to play football. I’d say a draw was a fair result.

“I thought they were fantastic. Two good teams going at it. I think they are unbeaten in five now and you can see why. We matched them for large spells, then they got ahead then we did, so it was quite cagey, but I thought it was great.”

He added: “We are not disappointed with a point. We are at home and we want to win the game, but going down quite late on and showing fight, everyone was still sprinting around in the 92nd minute.

“We could have won it at the end, but we will take the point. The attitude and desire and commitment I thought was brilliant.”