Derby County’s Duane Holmes made his first league start for the club against Birmingham City Saturday.
Derby County fans have taken to Twitter to laud the display of summer signing Duane Holmes, as he made his first Championship start for the club in the 3-1 win over Birmingham City Saturday.
The Rams headed into the clash coming off the back of a superb week – taking seven points from games against promotion rivals Sheffield United (H), West Bromwich Albion (A) and Middlesbrough (A).
But their spirited 3-2 defeat at Chelsea in midweek took a lot out of them, with Derby’s on loan duo Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori forced to sit out the clash with an in-form Birmingham side due to fitness problems.
Holmes, predominantly a winger at former club Scunthorpe United, replaced Mount in a central role and put in a man of the match performance, prompting plenty of praise from Derby fans.
Birmingham took the lead through Lukas Jutkiewicz in the opening period, but goals from Mason Bennett, Harry Wilson and Jack Marriott in the second half turned the game around for the Rams.
Many thought Mount would be a huge miss for Derby, but summer signing Holmes – a surprise selection – was terrific especially in the second period. The 23-year-old averaged an 80.4% pass-accuracy rate and successfully completed two dribbles – more than any other Derby player (Whoscored).
Holmes has a big future at Derby based on this performance, and his display leaves Derby manager Frank Lampard with a selection headache for next week against Aston Villa with, when Mount expected to be ready to come back in.
Derby’s victory over Birmingham takes them up to fourth in the Championship table, two points behind league leaders Norwich City.
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