3/1 To Win
Midfielder Max Bird felt Derby County would have earned all three points in their Sky Bet Championship clash against Fulham had it not been for Marek Rodak's heriocs at Pride Park Stadium.
The Rams created a number of chances throughout the first and second half, but all were thwarted by the Fulham goalkeeper as the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
When he was beaten, it was from the penalty spot as captain Wayne Rooney had given the Rams the lead 10 minutes into the second half.
After Tim Ream handled in the penalty area, Rooney stepped up and chipped his spot kick down the middle to give Derby the advantage.
However, Aleksandar Mitrovic levelled the scoreline with 19 minutes of the game remaining to ensure the points were shared.
Bird, himself, was denied by Rodak late on but the young midfielder was pleased with how the Rams performed against a strong side in the race for automatic promotion to the Premier League.
“They are a top team and are pushing for promotion but I think we were the better team out there tonight,” he told RamsTV.
“We had massive chances throughout the game and if their goalkeeper wasn’t on fire tonight then we would have won the game comfortably.
“We just said in the dressing room that their goalkeeper had a great game. He pulled off some wonderful saves, I think I should have scored, but he played well.
“He kept some good chances out from us but on the other hand, I thought we defended well. We put our bodies on the line and when we were under pressure, we defended well.”
Rooney’s goal came on his 500th league appearance in English football.
He was cool, calm and collected and he lifted the ball down the middle to net his fourth goal for Derby in all competitions since his arrival in January.
“He practises after training sometimes and I’ve never seen him practise a dink like that but it was a special goal,” Bird said.
“We don’t rely on him but he is a big player to have in the team. His experience and he is the sort of player that can put that penalty away.
“He is a top player but overall the team was fantastic tonight. We just need to keep pushing and we know if we keep playing then the results will come. I think we are due a lucky win.”
The 19-year-old was disappointed not to score his first professional goal for the football club as Rodak pushed away his left-foot strike late on.
“I was already off celebrating,” he admitted. “We practise shooting in training at the end of sessions and that’s one of the best I’ve hit.
“We played some good football tonight against a good footballing team as well. We have to give them credit but we did play good football at times and we probably deserved to get three points in the end.”
