Portsmouth sub Chaplin silences the Rams

18 year old striker Conor Chaplin scored the winner to crash out Derby County at the first round of the Capital One League Cup. 

Article by Fred Gough 

Portsmouth [2] Derby County [1] 
Attendance: 11,573

Paul Clement’s side will not be progressing in the cup competition this season after a lacklustre performance at Fratton Park. Despite the long journey south 1,134 Derby fans attended to see their side be knocked out at the first round of asking alongside seven other Championship outfits on Tuesday night.

The new Head Coach rotated his squad from those who started in the opening day draw at Bolton Wanderers. Lee Grant, Craig Forsyth, Jeff Hendrick, Simon Dawkins, Andi Weimann and Darren Bent all made their first starts of the campaign; and there were debuts handed to young Swedish right back Isak Sswankambo and summer signing Alex Pearce in the defence.

Both Portsmouth and Derby are seen as amongst the favourites to get promoted from their respective divisions this season. Pompey had started the season with a dominant 3-0 home win against Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday.

Pic - Fred Gough

It was clear that the home side were keen to make their 117 year old ground a fortress by pressuring The Rams in the early stages however neither side making any clear chances to break the deadlock. The East Midlands side came the closer as the first half wore on, with Weimann, Russell and Hendrick all failing to test goalkeeper Jones.

Half Time: Portsmouth 0 Derby County 0

The second half started brightly for The Rams as Weimann had a shot deflected against the side netting however on 49 minutes, it was another former Aston Villa youth product who opened the scoring. Signed from last season’s League Two champions Burton Albion, Adam McGurk scored his first goal for Pompey after a cross from fellow striker Jayden Stockley found the Northern Irish forward whose header looked easier to save but squirmed passed Lee Grant to make the Pompey chimes echo around the ground.

Still under a lot of pressure, Grant was kept busy saving from Stockley and former Ram Ben Davies before the Paul Clement rolled out the dice bringing on record signing Tom Ince, last season’s top scorer Chris Martin and midfield maestro George Thorne.

After hard work from Johnny Russell, the Rams earnt themselves a corner which taken by the hard working Scotsman found central defender Jason Shackell to score his first goal since returning to Derby from Burnley in the latter part of pre-season.

Pic Fred Gough

Encouraged by the supporters both teams seemed determined to make sure the tie didn’t go to extra time and or the dreaded penalty shootout. However it was Worthing born striker Chaplin who whistled a shot past Lee Grant after a low cross from Irish full back Enda Stevens.

Derby pushed for a second equaliser and thought that referee Paul Tierney had awarded them a penalty, however Lancashire based official only pointed for a free kick after Johnny Russell was tumbled on his way towards goal.

Russell himself dusted himself down but couldn’t keep his shot below the bar, as he scooped the attempt at goal into the Derby faithful.

Further attempts came begging for Derby as they attempted to make the scoreline 2-2 however it was going to be Portsmouth’s day.

Both Paul Clement and captain Chris Baird felt that Derby hadn’t done enough on this performance and were bitterly disappointed to exit the competition to lower league opposition.

With Charlton Athletic being the first competitive home fixture of the new campaign on Saturday, I would like to think that they will be determined to perform in front of an expectant iPro Stadium crowd with nearly two-thirds of the ground being full each week with season ticket holders. There is still a long way to go in this season and I still believe that Clement will find his groove eventually, patience during this time is vital for all in the black and white. 

Full Time: Portsmouth 2 Derby County 1

Teams:

DCFC [4-2-3-1] – Grant, Ssewankambo (Thorne – 70 (y/c – 90)) , Pearce, Shackell, Forsyth, Baird (capt) ,Hendrick , Russell, Dawkins (Ince – 61), Weimann & Bent (Martin - 60); Substitutes - Carson, Keogh Thorne, Ince, Martin, Warnock & Hanson.

Pompey [4-4-2] –Jones, Davies (capt), Webster, Clarke, Haunstrup (Chaplin – 71), Close, Hollands, Evans, McGurk (Stevens – 55), Bennett (Tollitt – 74), Stockley ; Substitutes – Murphy, Burgess, Atangana, Tubbs, Chaplin, Stevens & Tollitt.

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