Article body analysed
Football
Derby County
vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
3: 00pm, Saturday 25th October 2025.
Pride Park Stadium Attendance: Attendance28, 931.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Derby County and Queens Park Rangers at Pride Park on Saturday; Carlton Morris scores only goal as John Eustace's improving Rams make it back-to-back wins. Saturday 25 October 2025 18: 47, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Carlton Morris grabbed his fifth goal of the season to give Derby a 1-0 victory over QPR. It was his first goal in eight games but it was enough to send QPR to their first away defeat since they were thrashed at Coventry in August. The visitors could have few complaints as they were careless in possession and rarely threatened Derby's goal with Richard Kone wasting their best chance in the second half. Rangers' unbeaten away run had come under threat as early as the 11th minute when Derby went in front. Max Johnston swung the ball in from the right and Sondre Langas touched it past Paul Nardi for Morris to turn the ball over the line. It was no more than Derby deserved after an assertive start pushed the visitors back and Morris was close to a second with a header which landed on the roof of the net. Rangers were struggling to get into the game and Nardi had to react quickly at his near post to deny Ben Brereton Diaz in the 22nd minute.
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Derby's goal came under threat for the first time in the 34th minute but Kone's low cross was too close to Jacob Widell Zetterstrom. At least QPR were getting in some decent positions but they could not fashion a quality opening against a well-organised defence. It had been reasonably comfortable for Derby in the first half and little changed at the start of the second with the home side making better use of the ball. But Rangers had their best chance in the 61st minute when Kone got away from his marker but put a free header over the bar from 10 yards. Derby struck the woodwork twice in the space of a couple of minutes when a Johnston free-kick hit the top of the bar and then another set piece was flicked on to Brereton Diaz, who headed against the foot of a post. Another dangerous ball flashed across the area with Morris just unable to get his head on it but that Kone header apart, Rangers had created little. Much of that was down to Derby's pressing and denying space for their midfield and forwards to operate in but the home side lost Johnston in the 88th minute with what looked like a hamstring injury. That was the only worry for Derby who easily saw out five minutes of added time to celebrate back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Derby's John Eustace: "I thought it was a cracking win against a really good team. Very proud of the effort of the group, third game in a week, I thought we started really well and fully deserved the goal. "Second half we dug in, we had to, they put on a lot of fantastic forward players. We defended really well although I was disappointed we couldn't get the second on the transition which is something we've got to work on. "I think the group's character and attitude is fantastic. They are very much together, we are a family in that dressing room, and I also think it says something about the Championship which is such a difficult league to play in week in week out. "It's important not to get carried away with the highs and the lows, you are going to have bad games and bad performances but as long as you keep believing in the process which this group of players are doing, then that's the most important thing for me. " QPR's Julien Stephan: "I think Derby deserved their win. They started the game with more intensity, more ferocity, more physicality than us and they attacked well. We were not able collectively to react enough and to use the ball to create something so I think it's very simple to analyse, they were better than us today. "I'm disappointed, especially in the second half how we used the ball. We had a lack of clear ideas to find a good ball and to find a solution to create something, We had only one good chance in the game with Richard Kone's header and that's not enough to move a back five which is organised, we needed to move the ball more quickly. "We needed to have more ideas and dynamics as well, both physically and mentally, to find a solution and that was not the case today. "We have a very young team and a lot of players discover as well we need to play in three days in the Championship. We played on Wednesday away when it was a long travel and it was a long travel to come here so we need to learn from that, it's not only a question of football, it's a question of how we are able to play in three days physically and mentally. " The £250, 000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.
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