Mills goal enough for Oxford win over Derby

Stanley Mills came through Everton's academy before joining Oxford United

Oxford United secured only their second Championship win of the season with a largely dominant display against Derby County at the Kassam Stadium.

Stanley Mills put Oxford ahead in a one-sided opening half, slipping the ball past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom for his first goal of the season after running onto Brian de Keersmaecker's angled pass.

The Rams were grateful for a series of fine saves by their goalkeeper as they struggled to stem a flow of attacks from the home side, while failing to seriously test Jamie Cumming at the other end.

And the only concern for U's boss Gary Rowett will be how his side – beaten 3-2 in their two previous home league meetings with Derby – did not manage to win by a wider margin.

The victory lifted Oxford three places to 19th in the table, pending the results of later-kick-offs, with Derby – who have not managed a win in five games – slipping to 21st.

The home side had Ciaron Brown back in their defence for the first time since suffering a knee injury against QPR in April, while Derby restored Chile forward Ben Brereton Diaz to their starting line-up, in which Andreas Weimann made his 100th appearance for the club.

The Rams looked the more assertive side at the start with Brereton Diaz skinning Brodie Spencer down the left flank and cutting back to Weimann, whose shot was blocked.

But Widell Zetterstrom had to save well from Mills after Craig Forsyth failed to deal with a route one ball from the back and then denied de Keersmaecker twice in a matter of seconds as Siriki Dembele caused havoc in the Derby box.

There was nothing the keeper could do, though, as Belgian midfielder de Keersmaecker slipped the ball through a static Rams backline and Mills had plenty of time to pick his spot for his first goal of the season.

It should have been 2-0 when Dembele fed Nik Prelec just inside the box, but having created space for a shot, he fired a left-foot effort over the bar when he should have hit the target.

Prelec turned provider in added time at the end of the half after two Derby defenders got in each other's way attempting a clearance, heading down for Michal Helik, whose powerful volley was saved by Widell Zetterstrom diving to his left.

After early Derby pressure following the interval, Prelec was in the thick of the action again, turning away from two defenders on the right wing, then cutting back onto his left foot and forcing Widell Zetterstrom into action again.

The Rams tried to rouse themselves in the final quarter of an hour but the closest they came was a corner which skimmed off de Keersmaecker's head and just over the bar as they suffered a fourth defeat of the campaign in which they have still only won once.

They are next in action at home to Norwich City on Tuesday, with Oxford away to Wrexham the following day.

'We deserved to win' - reaction

Oxford United boss Gary Rowett told BBC Radio Oxford:

"It was a perfect game apart from not coming in at half-time three or four nil up.

"First half, we were outstanding and created countless chances, we should have been well away from Derby with the scoreline and when you don't take those opportunities when you are in such a dominant spell on the ball, you leave the door open.

"They're a very physical side, they're good at set pieces, they test you with big strikers so it's hard to get out and put pressure on the ball without leaving a little bit of space somewhere (at the back).

"What I'm really pleased about is we've won a game finally that we actually deserved to win, which is what we've done a lot of times and ended up losing those games. I thought it was an excellent performance."

Derby County boss John Eustace told BBC Radio Derby:

"We started the game well, got in some really good positions - the goal comes from us not being defensively strong enough on the turnover.

"From there we kind of lost our way, we huffed and puffed and were second best. We just lacked that leadership, that knowhow and it was too easy for them to play through us.

"Today it wasn't about tactics, it was just about losing too many duels and not being aggressive enough.

"We need to be realistic, we've had the international break, we've had four players away so we haven't been able to work with them, and it's about time on the training field, trying to keep the players fit now and trying to get the right balance."