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Colin Kazim-Richards secured a crucial win for Derby County as he tapped in the winner to sink QPR at the Kyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
Colin Kazim-Richards’ goal earned Wayne Rooney’s Derby County a second successive win with a 1-0 Championship victory over Queens Park Rangers. The 34-year old tapped home following a fluid counter-attack in the early stages of the second half.
The Rams striker was the centre of attention throughout the whole game even in the early minutes when he failed to connect with guilt edge chance. Kazim-Richards claimed his goal just after half time but, was lucky to have not conceded a penalty for his side when the ball blatantly struck his arm in the penalty area.
The home side started the game very slowly, reminiscing on their consecutive wins over Luton and Cardiff over the past week. Derby on the other hand, pressed with purpose and had the West London club penned in throughout the early stages.
Nathan Bryne created derby’s best chance of the half when he beat Niko Hamalainen before dinking a ball into the path of Kazim-Richards who looked bound to put Derby 1-0 up within 10 minutes. Instead, the Turkish forward was unable to connect with the ball as Rangers went let off the hook.
Mark Warburton’s side grew into the half with 15 minutes to go, two chances fell to Charlie Austin who was making his home debut. Austin came closest to opening the scoring in the first half when Todd Kane pulled back a cross which Austin guided towards the goal. It looked to be a certain goal but for Kelle Roos who’s outstretched arm denied the former England international.
Derby came out in the second half and absorbed a lot of pressure from QPR who looked to be committing bodies forward in the bid to break the deadlock. Graeme Shinnie took this chance to charge forward on the break and slip the ball through to Kamil Jozwiak, whose shot was parried by Dieng straight to Kazim-Richards, who made no mistake this time side-footing the Rams ahead.
The home side continued to push and probe for an equalising goal after going 1-0 behind in the early stages of the half. Ilias Chair hooked in a dangerous corner which was met by the goalscorer Kazim-Richards however, it looked to have been blatantly handled by the veteran striker, despite the denial from referee Tim Robinson as he was unfazed by multiple claims.
Rangers came close one final time courtesy of an acrobatic overhead kick effort by centre-back Yoan Barbet who found himself free in the Derby penalty area. The effort was well saved by Roos who palmed the shot away from his front post as the game petered out in the final stages.
It's all over in the #SkyBetChampionship!
Three points for @dcfcofficial ? pic.twitter.com/hnzfFkM04r
— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) January 23, 2021
This result sees Wayne Rooney’s Derby County remain in 20th position on 25 points but more importantly, the Midlands side have created a bit of a buffer between themselves and the bottom three. Derby will play hosts in a weeks time to high flying Bristol City.
As for QPR, they stay in 17th on 27 points after their disappointing loss to Rooney’s side. Rangers have a difficult month of February ahead of them so it was vital they collected as many points as possible from their preview three fixtures. They travel to Watford on February 1st, as they play third-place televised by Sky Sports.
In the meantime, the transfer window is set to shut in just over a weeks time with both teams looking to bolster their squad’s ahead of the second half of the season. QPR have agreed a fee with Fenerbahce to send forward Bright Osayi-Samuel to the Turkish club. It also looks like they could sign Fulham midfielder Stefan Johansen in the coming days on loan until the end of the season.
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