3/1 To Win
Derby County earned a point on the south coast after a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth in the Sky Bet Championship.
For the third consecutive game, Phillip Cocu’s side took a 1-0 lead in the first-half only to have it cancelled out in the second for a third 1-1 draw in a row.
Graeme opened his account for the season when he was there to ping in from close-range after Wayne Rooney’s free-kick hit the wall early in the first-half.
Chances came for the Rams to extend the lead but weren’t converted and late on they were punished when substitute Rodrigo Riqueime fired in to ensure the Cherries remain unbeaten to start the season.
David Marshall returned to the starting line-up after missing the game against Cardiff City through injury and made two brilliant instinctive saves to retain Derby’s early lead.
Rooney also returned after completing a period of isolation after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, while Mike te Wierik replaced Andre Wisdom in the starting XI.
The Rams were comfortable in the opening stages of the game, finding spaces well and looking dangerous every time they were in transition. Bournemouth, however looked to play out from the back and continually got caught out by Derby’s traps.
After 11 minutes, the Rams’ had already had two good chances. First, Rooney played a back-heel pass to Martyn Waghorn on the edge of the box and the latter struck over the crossbar.
Rooney was amongst it again soon after with a wonderful delivery from a free-kick down the right of the pitch into the area. Matt Clarke ran behind his marker and powered a header just over and onto the roof of the net.
Cocu’s side didn’t have to wait much longer though for a deserved opening goal. In the 14th minute Derby were awarded a free-kick just outside the area with Waghorn, who had scored from a similar area in the previous two games stood behind it with Rooney.
It was the Rams captain who opted to take the set-piece and drilled it into the Cherries’ wall. The deflection landed to Waghorn who poked the ball through to Shinnie who turned and pinged his left-footed effort into the corner, leaving Asmir Begovic with no chance.
Midway through the half another chance fell for the visitors when Clarke poked the ball free on the edge of the Derby box for Jason Knight to jump on the loose ball and play forward to Waghorn. He sent a low left-footed shot on target, but Begovic met it.
Soon after Waghorn was played through again, this time with Tom Lawrence with him to the left to go two-on-one, but the ball was intercepted for Bournemouth to avoid what could have been a lethal blow for them.
As the first-half went on, Bournemouth started to apply the pressure and switch to playing long balls. In the final minute, Marshall was called in to make an incredible save to protect Derby’s lead.
Junior Stanilas cut inside to Dominic Solanke right in front of the near post, but the Rams’ keeper had cat-like reactions to tip the close-range strike over the cross bar.
Derby sat back in the second-half as the Cherries were camped out in the Derby half. Back-to-back chances came for the home side in the 65th minute and somehow the score remained in Derby’s favour.
Arnaut Danjuma drove into from the right into Derby’s box and curled a shot the Marshall just managed to get his fingertips on to rattle off the far post.
Just after, Danjuma again was denied with another brilliant save by Marshall to bat his close-range effort out for a corner.
With just more than ten minutes to play, Derby tested Begovic for the first time in the half. Lawrence played a corner out to Knight outside the area who took a touch to settle down the ball before rifling a right-footed shot towards the bottom corner, but the Cherries’ stopper got down to it.
But the leveller came soon after through Riquelme four minutes after coming off the bench when he latched on to a cross with plenty of space at the back post and fired in across goal.
It was almost an instant reaction from Derby to retake the lead through a good play. Knight cut back to Duane Holmes who found Lee Buchanan. The full-back pulled the trigger from the left of the area to beat Begovic, but Steve Cook was on the line to block the effort.
Bournemouth: Bergovic, S. Cook (C), Mepham, Solanke, Danjuma, Smith, L. Cook, Stacey (Brooks, 69), Stanislas (King 45), Rico, Billing (Riquelme, 77)
Unused Substitute: Travers, Gosling, Surridge, Simpson
Derby County: Marshall, Shinnie, te Wierik (Wisdom, 80), Waghorn (Sibley, 90+2), Lawrence, Byrne, Clarke, Buchanan, Rooney (Holmes, 61) (C), Davies, Knight
Unused Substitutes: Roos, Forsyth, Bielik, Kazim-Richards
