Blackburn 1 – 2 Derby

John Eustace returned to Ewood Park to spoil Blackburn’s 150th anniversary celebrations as his Derby side held on to earn a 2-1 victory.

After controversially swapping play-off-chasing Rovers with the relegation-threatened Rams in February, Eustace’s first return always promised to be hostile and so it proved.

But his Derby outfit are vindicating that decision and stood up to the test. They raced into a two-goal lead through headers of differing technical qualities.

In-form Carlton Morris deftly nodded the Rams into a 19th-minute lead – his sixth in four games – before Patrick Agyemang powered in a header of his own on the stroke of half-time for his second goal of the season.

Yuki Ohashi’s 66th-minute penalty reduced the arrears and Derby had to survive an onslaught of long throws and corners but held firm to record their fifth successive win, moving to the fringes of the play-offs.

Rovers paid for a slow start and failing to test Jacob Zetterstrom enough but were hampered by injuries which saw midfielder Ryan Hedges deployed as a defender.

Derby started aggressively and created opportunities for Morris, who headed wide at the back post before former Rover Ben Brereton Diaz skewed wide when slipped in by Morris.

The Rams made their early promise count in the 19th minute through a familiar source as Morris escaped Sean McLoughlin’s attention six yards out to skilfully glance Callum Elder’s corner inside the far post – his 10th of the campaign.

Rovers slowly edged themselves back into the game and a testing Taylor Gardner-Hickman corner was set to find Axel Henriksson at the far post only for Ebou Adams to take it off his toe.

Gardner-Hickman tried his luck from range four minutes before half-time, which whistled just over.

But Derby’s deliveries were a constant threat and they tightened their grip in the 45th minute when Joe Ward sent in a pinpoint right-wing cross towards Agyemang at the back post, and he outjumped Ryan Alebiosu to thunder a header into the top corner.

The second period started in the same frustrating pattern for Rovers but they were handed a lifeline when former loanee Dion Sanderson needlessly brought down Ohashi in the area. The Japanese forward picked himself up and buried his penalty down the centre for his third in his last five outings.

Blackburn peppered the Rams’ backline for the remainder of the game as Ohashi met a superb Hedges left-wing cross but Zetterstrom got down to save the header at the far post in the 83rd minute.

Lars-Jorgen Salvesen should have made the game secure with the last kick but he did not get enough on his shot when clean through and it was cleared.

The managers

Blackburn’s Valerien Ismael:

“Very frustrating especially the first half. I can’t understand it. I said to the boys why do we play like that? It’s not what I expected from us.

“We wanted to play on the front foot, wanted to be brave, we knew that we would have the ball and we end up 2-0 down without knowing why because Derby didn’t make a lot for the game. We know them, set pieces and defend.

“Especially the second goal, we were on the ball and just gave it away. We tried a special pass, just play a simple ball to move the opponent.

“We spoke about it at half-time and second half was exactly the game we wanted, play on front foot, calm on the ball, force them to move left and right, come with the crosses, score the goal, got momentum in the game but we lost the game in the first half.

“For me, it’s frustrating why we are not able to start the game like that, and the way we concede the goals.”

Derby’s John Eustace:

“We speak about Carlton every game now, and all I’d say is he’s a top professional.

“He’s a real leader and most importantly, he’s a top human being. We’re very lucky to have him here. He drives the standards every day in training and makes sure he’s helping the lads around him in Patrick, Rhian (Brewster) and Lars-Jorgen (Salvesen).

“Any senior player I bring to the football club have got a responsibility not just on the pitch but off it as well. His job is to develop the others and he’s doing it.

“Second half, he got a bit leggy which he did on Tuesday but we’re asking him to do a defensive role as well, as a striker, to drop into certain areas and he’s doing it to the best of his abilities.

“He took a really bad knock on Tuesday. He was touch and go today but he said ‘I can’t wait to get going and I’ll do every defensive bit of the work’ and that was good enough for me.

“I’m just glad he’s come off the pitch injury free and he can have a well-deserved rest for the next week or so.”