Derby County and Nottingham Forest played out a 0-0 draw in a hard fought battle at Pride Park on Monday night.
The game saw few chances with the visitors’ Joe Lolley going closest in the final 10 minutes when he struck the crossbar.
Derby are now six unbeaten against their rivals, seeing them retain the Brian Clough trophy in what was Frank Lampard’s first involvement in this match.
Here are EFL Matters’ player ratings from Derby County 0-0 Nottingham Forest:
Derby County
Scott Carson 7 – Excellent save to deny Joe Lolley early on but otherwise not a difficult save to make. Good hands on crosses.
Jayden Bogle 8 – Booked in first half stoppage time for an elbow in the back of Ben Osborn. Dealt well with Nottingham Forest’s attacks down the left which consisted of both Osborn and Saidy Janko. Venured forward from right-back himself.
Richard Keogh 7 – Lewis Grabban got in behind the defence twice.
Fikayo Tomori 9 – Solid at the back to cut out opportunities from Lewis Grabben who was making excellent runs for the visitors all evening. Read the game very well to sniff out chances.
Scott Malone 8 – Excellent block to deny Lewis Grabben one-on-one late in the first half. Solid defensive performance.
Tom Huddlestone 7 – Good performance defensively but gave the ball away a lot more than usual.
Craig Bryson 6 – A couple of loose passes inside his own half. Picked up a yellow card in the first half. Won a few headers. Made forward runs but didn’t get a goalscoring opportunity.
Mason Mount 6 – Gave the ball away more times than Frank Lampard would have wanted, missed the target with both efforts on goal.
Harry Wilson 6 – Fine volley in the final 15 minutes that forced a quick reaction save from the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper. Played a couple of nice passes before then but otherwise did concede possession a fair few times.
Jack Marriott 7 – Worked hard in closing the opposition down and chasing lost causes from the front. Got onto a couple of passes down the wing to put crosses in but didn’t test Costel Pantilimon in the Nottingham Forest goal.
Tom Lawrence 6 – Fired a shot from distance wide after pinching the ball from Tendayi Darikwa inside his own half. Received a nasty late challenge from the right-back that left him limping midway through the second half and ultimately substituted.. Not hugely influential in attack in what was a tight affair.
Substitutes
David Nugent (17 mins) N/A – Made some good runs down the flank and headed a soft effort on goal.
Duane Holmes (7 mins) N/A – Made one positive run with the ball but otherwise saw little of it.
Nottingham Forest
Costel Pantilimon 7 – A cople of comfortable saves in an otherwise quiet game for the goalkeeper.
Tendayi Darikwa 4 – Very fortunate not to concede a penalty for kicking Tom Lawrence on 19 minutes. Careless in conceding possession to Tom Lawrence in the second half and escaped a yellow card for a late foul on the Derby forward five minutes later.
Michael Hefele 8 – Deserved yellow card in the first half for taking down Jack Marriott from behind. Prevented Jack Marriott from seeing a sight on goal.
Jack Robinson 8 – Nottingham Forest’s centre-back partnership restricted Derby to long-range efforts,
Saidy Janko 7 – Made some decent runs down the left wing but created nothing of note. Defended well at full-back.
Jack Colback 8 – Nottingham Forest’s two sitting midfielder were very good in front of the back four, preventing Derby from creating much down the middle.
Claudio Yacob 9 – Excellent in front of the back four in breaking up Derby’s possession outside the penalty area on more than one occasion.
Joe Lolley 7 – Looked tricky around the penalty area, hit the top of the crossbar in the final 10 minutes when perhaps he should have scored.
Joao Carvalho 6 – Some nice touches on the edge of the penalty area but they were too few and far in between.
Ben Osborn 6 – Picked up a yellow card for nasty challenge on Harry Wilson 10 minutes into the second half. Created a couple of chances down the left.
Lewis Grabban 7 – Made some excellent runs off the ball but the only time he was picked out he delayed taking a one-on-one to allow Scott Malone to get back to block his effort on the Derby goal.
Substitutes
Daryl Murphy (10 mins) N/A – Late replacement for Lewis Grabban but didn’t have a chance on goal.
Matty Cash (1 min) N/A – Brought on in stoppage time and could have got an effort away from 20 yards but took too long.
