Derby head coach Paul Warne says he is happy to have two goalkeepers vying to be his first choice after watching Josh Vickers deliver a match-winning display in the 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.
Vickers turn in a faultless performance 24 hours after the club had signed Swedish keeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom from Djurgarden.
Boro dominated from start to finish but, despite peppering Derby’s goal, could not find a way past an inspired Vickers.
He made a string of fine saves to preserve the lead Kayden Jackson had given County in the 14th minute.
Jackson collected a weak back pass from Isaiah Jones to sprint away and take the ball round Seng Dieng to send Pride Park into raptures.
Warne now has to decide who to play in goal next week, but he said: “There’s no drama for me.
“I’ll speak to the coaches and the goalkeeping coach, I’ll watch Jacob train this week. I’m always the same, I’m always fair on my players and the best players play.
“I have to manage every game like it’s my last, because in football management it sometimes is, so I’ll pick the team that I think is going to win the game and, if it’s Jacob, great, if it’s Josh, great.
“They are both very good goalkeepers, which is why I brought Josh to the club and Jacob to the club – and he can sell calendars. He is one handsome man, we’ve bought like the Swedish James Bond!
“I think we rode our luck at times, I’m not pretending that we didn’t, but to win games of football there are a lot of things that come into it.
“We win 1-0 at home and our best player is Josh Vickers. Everything he did today was bang on the money and that’s why I brought him to the club, he’s an amazing goalkeeper.”
Boro reacted to going behind by swarming all over Derby, but their finishing did not match the approach work, although Vickers needed to claw away a Finn Azaz shot in the 23rd minute.
He made an even better save to keep out a Jones shot that was headed for the bottom corner and tipped over a Hayden Hackney strike in the 65th minute.
Delano Burgzorg saw a deflected shot come back off a post and Boro’s frustration grew as he and Hackney both fired wide when they should have hit the target.
Derby had to withstand relentless pressure, but they defended resolutely to celebrate a first victory back in the Championship.
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick said: “Starting the game, we weren’t totally at it. There were a couple of bits of sloppy play and then the goal, it’s not easy to pull that back.
“I thought we tried, we did some good things at times, created chances and the longer the game goes it becomes frustrating, so obviously disappointed with the result.
“It’s no surprise as to how the game panned out, we couldn’t do enough today to claw it back, we gave ourselves too much to do.
“We were off it in a couple of moments at the beginning of the game and we’ve definitely got to get better at that and be a bit more ruthless and smarter at how we start the game, but we’ll get there.”
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