Festy Ebosele announces himself to fans nationwide as Derby County maul the Tigers

If you were not a Derby County fan and had never heard the name Festy Ebosele before Tuesday night, you would have certainly been forgiven.

The 19-year-old has broken through into Wayne Rooney’s side this campaign and, with the Rams’ home game against relegation rivals Hull City broadcasted live on Sky Sports, it was an opportunity for the young winger to make an impression on those outside of Derby County Football Club.

Ebosele was a Ferrari down the right flank as Derby cruised to a 3-1 victory over City, scoring his second goal of the campaign as well as having heavy involvement in the hosts’ second goal.

The first goal was an excellent header from long-term Derby servant Craig Forsyth who, on his 250th appearance for the Rams, scored just his sixth goal as the 32-year-old latched onto Jason Knight’s cross from deep to send a looping header past a helpless Matt Ingram.

Hull were able to string some neat passes together but individual errors at the back allowed Derby to smell blood and eventually, the Rams pounced and found their second before the interval.

Despite his age, the wing play from Ebosele in the build-up to Tom Lawrence’s goal was superb. The Irishman received the ball from Knight, stood still for a second as he lured his defender in, and demonstrated a fantastic change of pace as the wide man darted down the flank leaving his defender behind.

The cut back was excellent but deflected as Hull attempted to clear their lines, with the ball instead falling to top-scorer Lawrence who tucked away his ninth goal. Ebosele was not credited with the assist but was certainly the architect.

With a comfortable 2-0 lead going into the break, it would not have been a surprise if the opening stages of the second-half were nervy for the hosts as Shota Arveladze’s side looked to get back into the contest.

However, it was quite the contrary.

After the young Irishman had constructed the move which saw his Welsh teammate score the second, Derby’s captain returned the favour as he released Ebosele into space just minutes into the second half.

The youngster’s pace helped take the ball beyond the Tigers defence and, at the perfect moment, the trigger was pulled as the winger shot low, slightly on the half volley, giving Ingram no chance.

Hull’s Keane Lewis-Potter netted from close range midway through the second half to give the visitors a glimmer of hope, but the outcome looked pretty settled.

Having scored his first senior goal away at Millwall in early November, Ebosele’s strike was his first in front of the Pride Park faithful, who will hope they still have a club for their bright star to score more goals for amid the terrors occurring off of the pitch.

Having made his debut for the Rams last season, with three consecutive cameos at right-back in defeats to Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers and Preston North End during April, the forward now boasts 21 Championship appearances for Derby.

Its certainly been a season of progress for the winger, who was named man of the match against Hull, as the Irishman has broken through not only for club but for the Ireland national team too, earning two caps for the senior side.

Of course, with Derby you wonder how much longer there will be a club for the players to play for, however, they are certainly not short of belief and, despite 21 points worth of deductions, Rooney’s side are just four points away from safety.

Amid all the uncertainty and brutality off the pitch, something special is certainly happening on it at Pride Park.

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