“Leave everything on the pitch. It is all we ask. Come on Derby” was the message plastered across a giant supporters’ banner draped over the railings besides the statue of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor before kick-off. They were words that greeted Wayne Rooney on arrival and they formed part of the manager’s pre-match team talk.
Derby lived every emotion in an absurd and exhausting see-sawing episode as they recovered from surrendering a second-half lead to win a priceless point that preserved their Championship status and consigned Sheffield Wednesday to the third tier for the first time in nine years.
Quick Guide
Wycombe go down fighting, Championship play-offs set
Wycombe went down fighting with a 3-0 win at Middlesbrough not enough to prevent an immediate return to League One. Gareth Ainsworth's side were all but down at kick-off, needing a 10-goal margin of victory and for other results to go their way. Goals from Fred Onyedima, Garath McCleary and Jason McCarthy ensured they at least moved above Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday in the final table.
Swansea slipped to a 2-0 defeat at promoted Watford, Andre Gray and Isaac Success striking in the second half for the hosts. Steve Cooper's side held onto fourth spot as Bournemouth lost at home to mid-table Stoke by the same scoreline, Will Forrester and Tommy Smith getting the goals. Barnsley finish fifth after a 2-2 draw at home to champions Norwich and will face the Swans in the play-off semi-finals; Bournemouth will play third-placed Brentford, who cruised to a 3-1 victory at Bristol City, Ivan Toney getting his 31st goal of the season.
Reading end the campaign in seventh after a 2-2 home draw with Huddersfield. Rarmani Edmonds-Green's injury-time equaliser earned a point for the Terriers. Adam Armstrong took his season tally to 28 with a hat-trick as Blackburn thrashed Birmingham 5-2, while Coventry ended their two-year stay at St Andrew's with a 6-1 rout of Millwall. Charlie Austin kickstarted QPR's 3-1 win over Luton and Preston fought back from a goal down to win 2-1 at Nottingham Forest.
Niall McVeigh
Martyn Waghorn blasted in a penalty 12 minutes from time, seconds after Cardiff had levelled at home to Rotherham, which meant a draw would be enough for Derby to survive.
This game was always going to finish late when Waghorn required treatment after clattering a post following a miscued header.
Rooney was toying over whether to stick or twist, aware they were a Rotherham goal from disaster.
A few moments after Waghorn equalised, Rooney replaced him with the club captain, Curtis Davies, introduced for his first appearance since December. “He hasn’t trained,” Rooney said. “He’s not fit. I’ve done it myself in games … but he’s a real example to the other players. I said to him: ‘Can you head the ball?’ He said ‘Yes’.
“I remember when I took the job I had a few friends phoning me up saying: ‘Are you sure?’ It was a crazy game.”
Who would be a manager? A dull first half came to life in the fourth of five minutes of stoppage time, when Sam Hutchinson stabbed in from close range after feeding on the scraps of a long throw, but a barmy contest ensued in the second half.
Waghorn nodded in Tom Lawrence’s delicious floated cross before Patrick Roberts leathered Derby in front on 52 minutes with a wonderful left-foot strike. Waghorn expertly occupied Chey Dunkley and laid the ball on for Roberts, who slid on to his knees in delight.
Derby’s coaching staff flooded the technical area but Rooney, hands in the pockets of his black coat, exuded calm.
Perhaps he forecast the madness. In the buildup he fielded questions about his side’s resilience – they had succumbed to defeat after throwing away leads in three of their four previous matches – and they momentarily crumbled after Craig Forsyth’s mistake allowed Callum Paterson to pilfer an equaliser.
Wednesday, whose manager, Darren Moore, was back in the dugout for the first time in almost a month after a bout of pneumonia, regained the lead when Dunkley kept Barry Bannan’s corner alive at the back post and Julian Börner was presented with the simplest of headers.
“We conceded two sloppy goals, the story of our season,” Rooney said. “We did a training session here at the stadium yesterday. We did an hour of set-pieces and didn’t concede one goal.”
Rooney revealed he watched Sister Act before the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow with Manchester United and plumped for the sequel on Friday night, before arguably the biggest game in Derby’s history.
“My message to the players at half-time was stay calm, don’t panic, don’t force things,” he said. “I have to switch off because the players, the staff, the girls back at the training ground, where there was a big screen up watching the game.
“I have to be calm for everyone involved at the training ground because it was a high-pressured game. Watching a feelgood movie with a bit of music in helps me relax.”
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Wednesday’s hopes of securing an unlikely escape unravelled when Dunkley felled the substitute Kamil Jozwiak inside the box. Waghorn kept his cool to add to Wednesday’s miserable tally of dropping a league-high 29 points from winning positions.
There was still time for Derby to squander a chance to snatch victory as Roberts failed to beat Keiren Westwood when through one on one with the goalkeeper.
“One minute it was in our hands, then it was out of our hands, and then it was back in our hands. Yes, there is disappointment but we have to pick ourselves up and go again,” Moore said.
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