Derby County 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers: Rooney denied victory in first game as caretaker Rams boss
- Published
Wayne Rooney was denied victory in his first game in sole charge of Derby County after Matt Bloomfield scored a late equaliser for fellow Championship strugglers Wycombe Wanderers.
Former England captain Rooney said that it is "possible" that he has played his final game, having left himself out of the squad to take control as caretaker boss after previously sharing the role with Liam Rosenior, Shay Given and Justin Walker.
While the quartet oversaw two defeats after Phillip Cocu's exit on 14 November, Duane Holmes' first goal of the season looked like being enough to earn Derby just their second victory in 14 league games.
Bloomfield, however, punished Derby's second-half wastefulness and inability to clear danger in the 80th minute, poking home an equaliser that leaves Derby bottom of the table.
The Rams only just earned a point in the end as Wycombe's Garath McCleary saw an injury-time effort hit the underside of the crossbar.
It is a result that does little to enhance Rooney's bid to be named Rams manager on a permanent basis, with an appointment imminent as a proposed takeover led by Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nahyan nears completion.
For Wycombe, their first goal in four games earned them a third successive draw and leaves them third from bottom.
Rooney took temporary charge of the lowest scoring side in the three divisions of the English Football League when Cocu left, but goals are still hard to come by.
Holmes' flicked, close-range finish to open the scoring in the 36th minute was Derby's first goal from open play for 17 and a half hours.
Rooney, 35, made seven changes to a Derby side that had collected just three points from a possible 27 during a horrendous nine-game winless run.
Among the wholesale reshuffle, 34-year-old former Turkey international Colin Kazim-Richards was handed his first start in English football for seven years.
After Ryan Allsop denied Holmes and George Evans in quick succession midway through the first half, Kazim-Richards thought he had put the Rams ahead after steering home a Forsyth cross.
While the effort was disallowed for offside, the former Brighton, Celtic and Feyenoord forward set Holmes up for the opener a minute later.
Wycombe, who earlier lost midfielder Curtis Thompson to injury, improved after the break and, following a succession of corners, tested home keeper David Marshall with a header from Adebayo Akinfenwa.
A string of fine Allsop saves, foiling Holmes and Matthew Clarke, kept the visitors in the game.
The goalkeeper's effort to keep a 76th-minute Clarke header out and Fred Onyedinma's goalline clearance to deny Craig Forsyth on the rebound was decisive as Bloomfield stabbed home the leveller soon after in a game that the Chairboys were unfortunate not to go on and win.
Derby's interim boss Wayne Rooney:
"I felt the experience coming into the team was vital, I wanted experienced players on the pitch who know the league and to try and get the ball forward quicker than we have done in recent games.
"I think that was needed today. I can sit here and say we want to play football, make 600, 700 passes a game, but at the minute the players aren't in that frame of mind and aren't confident enough to do that so the important thing for me was to try and simplify the game for the players and to get the ball forward.
"We paid the price for not getting that second goal. But I have to remain positive, it's a point, we've stopped the run of losing games and it's a point we have to build on."
Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth:
"Derby definitely had the first half but, second half, I thought we were the better side and for me, it's a huge point against a club that I don't believe will be in the bottom three come the end of the season.
"We celebrated a point in League One away at Sunderland two years ago like it was the best thing that this club had ever done so to come to somewhere like Derby County and get a point I think is just phenomenal for Wycombe Wanderers.
"I'm really pleased, really proud and I firmly believe I've got a squad that will scrap and fight and have all the tools to stay in this division."
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