West Bromwich Albion 1-4 Derby County: Ruthless Rams thrash Baggies at The Hawthorns
- Published
Harry Wilson has now scored three goals for Derby during his season-long loan from Liverpool
Derby County delivered a demonstration of their Championship promotion credentials as they thrashed West Bromwich Albion.
Frank Lampard's Rams scored twice in each half - through Jack Marriott and Tom Lawrence in the first, then Harry Wilson and Scott Malone in the second.
Jay Rodriguez pulled one back for Albion late on, but it was his awful early error with a loose backpass that set Derby on their way to an impressive win.
Already without suspended midfielder Jake Livermore, Albion lost joint-top scorer Dwight Gayle to injury at half-time, on a night when anything that could have gone wrong for them did.
But in truth, they were outclassed by Lampard's slick outfit.
The home side would have gone top if they had won, but were taken apart by a fifth-placed Derby side, whose best win under Lampard took them level on points with Albion and within two points of new leaders Leeds United.
Goals aplenty for Lampard
Lampard enjoyed plenty of goal-filled games against Albion in his days as a Chelsea player, while he once scored four times in a 6-0 win over a Derby side containing Darren Moore, now the Baggies boss.
But even he surely cannot have been prepared for just how easy a victory this would be against a West Brom side that had netted 19 times in their previous five home league matches.
It took a big helping hand to set the Rams on their way, with Rodriguez's error letting in Marriott to slide a shot under goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
Lawrence then drilled in the second goal with a low right-foot shot off the foot of the post, and it could have been more before the break as it needed top saves from Johnstone to deny Malone, Tom Huddlestone and Jayden Bogle.
Rodriguez almost cashed in when the Derby defence also briefly got in a tangle but his tame low cross to Gayle was cut out by keeper Scott Carson, while Albion's only other near miss came when Gayle tripped with Malone in close pursuit and the home penalty claims were waved away.
Even a half-time switch to a back four could not stem the tide, with Liverpool's on-loan Wales international Wilson adding a third when his lovely low left-foot shot found the bottom corner.
Malone than waltzed through the West Brom defence for the fourth, before Rodriguez cut in to wrap up the scoring.
West Bromwich Albion head coach Darren Moore told BBC Sport:
"Derby were clinical in their finishing but it was a bizarre game.
"They gave the ball away too at times but we just didn't capitalise, and it turned into a bad day at the office.
"The incident with Dwight Gayle changed it. He had a chance to score and he had his heel clipped in full flow.
"He had to come off because of that. He tried to run it off and we had to work on him at half-time. The medical team will take a look."
Derby manager Frank Lampard:
"We should be pleased to beat a team who I fully expect to challenge for promotion, but there's more work to be done.
"It's the best result we've had but not the best performance. I'm not playing mind games. I just thought we played fantastically well against Brentford and at Manchester United.
"Big parts of our game were great, especially the finishing, but I think we can still improve.
"We're two points off the top boys but it's an unforgiving league and a long season. If we listen to any talk, that's our problem."