Reminders of administration and hope: Thompson strikes as Derby beat Wednesday

In the driving rain on a cold Monday night at Hillsborough, the ball breaks for Liam Thompson.

He takes a touch before finding the bottom-right corner with an effort he had drilled into the ground, prompting a rush towards a rapturous away end of 3,900.

But the pain he feels as he unwittingly knee-slides on AstroTurf is nothing compared to that felt by administration-stricken Sheffield Wednesday.

Could there have been a more fitting opponent for Thompson, who broke into Derby’s first team when the club were in administration, to score his first Championship goal against than Wednesday in their current peril?

The similarities between the Rams side of 2021-22 and this iteration of The Owls are obvious. A team of loyal veterans, free agents, and youngsters, thrown in at the deep end as Thompson was, who have been written off due to points deductions.

Survival does not mean avoiding relegation, but something so much bigger.

It’s a situation where “you have a bit more freedom, less pressure”, Derby’s number 16 told Sky Sports. Just as Wayne Rooney’s Rams did Henrik Pedersen’s side appeared to use this as an opportunity to control the ball, playing through the lines in hope of an upset.

The opening half hour of the game was much like the Championship table: the middle was far too congested, while those at the top and bottom were miles away from anyone else.

Only when Wednesday keeper Pierce Charles would launch a javelin-like long ball from the edge of his own box was there really any excitement surrounding the action.

Cue scrappy, sloppy play. Derby failed to complete a single dribble in this time, but The Rams were sat off, ready to seize upon an opening when it came. Patience was the name of the game.

And that would pay off in the 32^nd minute, when Eustace’s side elected to press high as their hosts played out from the back.

Thompson won the ball and found Clark, who teed up Patrick Agyemang to finish sublimely, firing the ball across goal into the bottom-right corner from a difficult angle.

After half-an-hour of tussling with Dominic Iorfa, Agyemang had beaten his marker – this was the wide outlet he has been so dangerous as of late.

But when a near-six-million-pound man is the difference, how can one expect Wednesday to compete at present?

With their noses ahead, Derby had a handful more chances before the break, all just either side of the 18-yard line.

Ben Brereton Díaz, Rhian Brewster, Clark, and Brereton Díaz again: saved, blocked, skied, wide.

Pedersen’s Owls started the second half well, former Ram Max Lowe’s cross into the six-yard-box the first time Jacob Widell Zetterström was worked. But a kerfuffle between Iorfa and Agyemang presented Derby with a chance to knock the stuffing out of their opponents.

Forsyth’s ball was headed back to Thompson by Clarke, for the midfielder to put into the bottom right corner.

Five minutes later, it was three. After Rhian Brewster bullied his way down the byline to pounce on a slack Nathaniel Chalobah pass, he squared the ball in search of Brereton Díaz.

Instead, the ball came to Agyemang, who lifted it high into the roof of Charles’ net.

With 13 minutes to play, the American drove towards goal, shooting for his hat-trick despite cries to pass from Brereton Díaz.

The Chile international was clearly eyeing the goal his work-rate had deserved, but just as he was denied, so was Agyemang, as Charles got down low to his left.

At 3-0, this was Derby’s biggest margin of victory under John Eustace, and it could easily have been more. As a stable Championship club once again, The Rams have depth they could only have dreamed of a year or two ago.

If the festive season is a time to reflect, Derby’s final pre-Christmas away day provided the perfect trigger. With the visit of another struggling side in Portsmouth to come on Saturday, a win would take Derby’s points-per-game figure for this season to 1.5, the same number Eustace achieved in the great escape last season.

This was a game The Rams were expected to win. But not withstanding that, despite the recent dip in form and injury blows, Eustace’s side are in a decent position. 12^th in the table, 11 points clear of the bottom three, with more points from 21 games than they amassed in 35 last season.

Signs of progress are there. And for Sheffield Wednesday fans, it could be evidence that despite the heartache and hardships of administration, things do get better.

Goals: Agyemang 32', 62', Thompson 57'.

Derby (3-4-1-2): Zetterström (GK); Langås (C), Sanderson, Clarke; Ward, Thompson, Clark (Adams 80’), Forsyth; Brewster (Weimann 66’); Brereton Díaz (Jackson 80’), Agyemang (Salvesen 88’).

Unused substitutes: Vickers (GK); Nelson, Nyambe, Elder; Blackett-Taylor.

Sheffield Wednesday (5-3-2): Charles (GK); Fusire, Iorfa (Otegbayo 85’), Cooper, M. Lowe, Amass (Alao 90+2’); McNeil, Bannan (C), Ingelsson (Ugbo 85’); J. Lowe (Chalobah 61’), Cadamarteri (Brown 61’).

Unused substitutes: Horvath (GK); Palmer; Thornton, Johnson.