Derby County’s Under-18s were on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline against East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest at Moor Farm Training Ground on Tuesday night in the Under-18 Premier League - North.
A brace from Jack Nadin secured all three points for the Reds, with the young Rams playing the best part of 60 minutes of the contest with ten men following goalkeeper Jack Thompson’s first-half red card.
It was the Rams who started off the quicker of the two sides, with Johnson Osong breaking in behind the Forest defence. However, his strike was blocked by a recovering defender.
As well as that early opening, full-back Billy Gough decided to test his luck and have a run at the Forest defence with his eventual attempt going straight down the throat of visiting goalkeeper Aaron Bott.
The visitors’ best chance early on came in the 14th minute, with Nadin receiving the ball on the edge of the box on the left-hand side and his curling effort only narrowly missed the top right corner of the goal and landed on the roof of the net.
Midway through the first-half, Derby were dealt a big blow. They were caught in possession in the middle of the field and a strike from outside the box from George Hemmings was saved by goalkeeper Thompson whilst he was outside his area, resulting in the referee issuing the shot-stopper with a straight red card.
The resulting free kick was where the deadlock was broken at Moor Farm, with Nadin drilling the ball into the bottom left corner of the net in what was substitute goalkeeper Joshua Shattell’s first piece of action in the match.
It was Forest who were in control for the rest of the half and had chances to double their lead, with Detlef Esapa's strike from inside the box forcing Shattell into a smart save.
Despite being down to ten men, Derby continued to press the Forest defence in the second half. They had a chance to level when a ball into the box from Bayo Fapetu went through a sea of bodies and found Cameron Ashia, but he could not quite keep his shot down.
With ten minutes to go, Forest made the points safe. A deep cross from Hemmings, following good footwork from Danny Anijsko, found Nadin at the back-post and he headed home past a stranded Shattell.
Next up for the Under-18s is the visit of Southampton to Moor Farm Training Ground in the Premier League Cup on Saturday 8th October (11am kick-off).
Derby County Under 18s: Thompson (GK), Moore, Gough, Hawkins, Robinson (Gill 46), Aideyan, Perry (Shattell 26), Fapetu, Wheeldon, Nicholas-Davies (Ashia 46), Osong (Dixon 70).
Substitute Not Used: Simons.
Report by Jordan Richards