Mikkel Beck scored his first goal for Derby to give his side victory against
their east Midlands rivals.
Beck pounced on the hour, nodding home Lars Bohinen's corner at the near post
as the Rams completed the double over Leicester, having beaten them 2-0 at Pride
Park in September.
The Danish striker's goal spared Stefano Eranio's blushes, the Italian having
just seen Kasey Keller palm away his penalty after the Foxes keeper was adjudged
to have felled Dean Sturridge.
But from the resulting flag-kick, Beck rose highest to turn the ball home and
the Leicester fans who had been celebrating their let-off moments earlier were
stunned into silence.
Sturridge had given Derby the lead on 17 minutes and though Frank Sinclair
equalised for the hosts, who have now lost twice in five days following
Saturday's defeat at Southampton, 11 minutes later Beck was on hand to score the
winner.
He has struggled somewhat to fit in at Pride Park since arriving on March 25,
deadline day, in a move from Middlesbrough which cost County in the region of
£500,000.
But his goal, which came after four previous blanks in a Derby shirt, was
enough to send the visiting fans home singing in the Leicester rain.
However, sharing the Rams plaudits with Beck will be Mart Poom, who pulled off
a wonderful point-blank stop to foil Emile Heskey seven minutes from time.
The striker, who won his first England cap as a sub in Hungary last Wednesday,
must have thought he had scored when he headed Sinclair's pinpoint cross towards
goal from just six yards out.
But Poom managed to fling himself skywards and get a touch to Heskey's effort
which diverted it against the crossbar.
He also made a good stop to deny Muzzy Izzet in the dying stages as Leicester
fought furiously for an equaliser but Derby held on to end a four-match losing
run away from home.
On a night when six of the Premiership's heavyweights slugged it out
elsewhere, this Filbert Street encounter could easily have been tagged 'The
match that everyone forgot'.
And in truth that label would have been quite apt, given the lack of
outstanding football on show for much of this east Midlands derby.
However, while there were endless misplaced passes and mistimed tackles,
Sturridge was rewarded for his lively display with his first goal since December
28.
This season he has struggled to repeat the form he showed when he first
started in the Premiership in 1996 but the 25-year-old may feel he was owed the
slice of fortune he enjoyed tonight.
Sturridge, who was only playing because Deon Burton has a hamstring injury,
was struck by Paulo Wanchope's weak long-range effort which Keller appeared to
have covered.
But the American was wrong-footed by the ball hitting the striker and as
Pontus Kaamark tried to close Sturridge down, he clipped his shot beyond both
the defender and Keller.
That stung Leicester into action and they levelled with another goal which had
a fair amount to do with luck.
Steve Guppy's free-kick struck Sturridge on the arm as he broke away from the
wall but as the home crowd roared for a penalty, the ball ricocheted to an
unmarked Sinclair and he was able to fire an angled drive from the corner of the
six-yard box beyond Poom.
The game livened up slightly after half-time and Andy Impey made a vital
tackle to rob Wanchope just as he tried to fire goalwards as Derby looked for a
third goal which would have killed off their hosts.
Neil Lennon was unfortunate to see a fierce volley fly just wide, while
another long-range effort by the Northern Ireland international was safely
gathered by Poom.
But Leicester could not find a way through and it is Derby who reign supreme
in the east Midlands tonight.
Teams:
Leicester: Keller, Elliott, Sinclair, Kaamark, Impey,
Savage (Cottee 67), Lennon, Izzet, Guppy, Marshall (Walsh 80),Heskey.
Subs Not Used: Arphexad, Miller, Zagorakis.
Booked: Keller.
Goals: Sinclair 28.
Derby: Poom, Prior, Laursen, Carbonari, Delap,
Bohinen (Murray 90), Eranio, Schnoor, Sturridge, Beck, Wanchope.
Subs Not Used: Harper, Jackson, Robinson, Knight.
Booked: Carbonari, Laursen, Eranio, Delap, Wanchope.
Goals: Sturridge 17, Beck 60.
Att: 20,535
Ref: N Barry (Scunthorpe).
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