It was a tale of penalties at Pride Park, as a young Rams side battled out a 1-1 draw with West Brom.
Martyn Waghorn put away a penalty in the sixth minute to give the Rams a lead, before missing one later in the half. The Baggies drew level in the last ten minutes through their own penalty, forcing both sides to take a point.
Phillip Cocu named a young side, handing out first league starts to Lee Buchanan and Jason Knight whilst also making the bold inclusion of Jack Marriott, who has been struggling with injury woes as of late.
It didn't take the Derby long to cause West Brom problems. Marriott's fantastic hold up play and quick pass to Waghorn, allowed him to burst into the area before being brought down by Kieran Gibbs for a penalty. The forward made no mistake of dispatching the penalty to take an early lead.
Both sides made the game an open and entertaining encounter, but both were reduced to dangerous half chances in the first half.
That was until Derby were awarded a penalty for a dubious handball in the box. Waghorn stepped up again but Johnstone guessed correctly and dived down to his left to match the shot and keep the lead at just one.
The Baggies almost levelled it in added time of the first half. Summer signing, Kenneth Zohore, was fed through one-on-one with Kelle Roos. The Dutch keeper managed to do enough to deny the striker a certain goal.
The second half saw the home side start with intent. Buchanan's driven ground cross found Knight, who's ferocious shot rebounded for Marriott but the striker's effort was skewed over.
Both sides played out an end to end encounter, with the Baggies' attacking causing more problems between the lines of the Derby defence.
That's when danger struck. Five minutes from time, West Brom were awarded the third penalty of the match after a sliding tackle from Max Lowe. Zohore stepped up and beat Roos from the spot to level the tie and ensure both sides took a point.
Derby County: Roos; Lowe, Keogh, Bielik, Buchanan; Dowell, Huddlestone, Knight (Paterson, 90); Waghorn (Evans, 82), Marriott (Bennett, 77), Lawrence
Attendance: 26,718
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