Patrick Bamford strikes to give Middlesbrough vital win over Derby

Patrick Bamford showed Derby County just what they are missing as he scored the goal that proved to Steve McClaren how sharp he can be as a central striker and ensured Middlesbrough remained level on points at the top of the Championship.

The England Under-21 striker, who grew up a Nottingham Forest supporter and spent half of last season on loan from Chelsea to Derby, admitted before the promotion clash that he felt he had not been given “a look-in up front” at the iPro Stadium and then made his point midway through the second half by scoring the decisive goal brilliantly.

Bamford also scored when Middlesbrough beat these opponents at the Riverside in December and, at a time when Derby are missing their injured 19-goal striker Chris Martin so badly they have won only twice in 10 games, he offered the touch of class that separated the sides. “That’s what he’s capable of and when you look at it, that’s the difference between the teams,” McClaren said. “That’s what we’ve had for the majority of the season.

“I couldn’t ask any more from my players, we just lacked that cutting edge in the final third. Everybody here is suffering at the moment and a lot of things aren’t going for us. But there’ll be plenty of twists and turns before the season’s over. It’s important we stay together, we stay calm. After the international break, we hope to have everybody back from injury and those players have proved they’re capable of winning games.”

Derby are five points off the joint leaders in fifth place, their lowest ranking in six months. With McClaren, the former Middlesbrough manager, being widely touted for potential vacancies back in the north-east with Sunderland and Newcastle United, this is a testing time for Derby.

By contrast Middlesbrough have put clear daylight between themselves and Ipswich Town, whom they thrashed 4-1 on Saturday, and now Derby, before a third successive promotion game against Bournemouth. “This has been an amazing week,” Aitor Karanka said. “Now we have another big game on Saturday.”

The Boro manager was measured in his praise for his loan star after Bamford’s eighth goal in 13 games. “Now he is taking responsibility for scoring goals and he is confident, everybody knows what a good player Patrick is. When you are a good player, you can play in several positions.”

Middlesbrough had looked slightly the slicker side as Derby played with great gusto but in a game of very few chances, Jelle Vossen came close to opening the scoring when he latched on to Lee Grant’s clearance but saw his lob over the goalkeeper from 45 yards rebound from a post.

There had been a feeling all the game that Bamford would be the protagonist and how he celebrated with the Middlesbrough supporters after nicking his 16th goal of this season. Lee Tomlin paved the way with a fine, weaving run down the inside-left of the Derby penalty area before a perfectly-weighted pass invited Bamford to steer the ball just past the out-rushing Grant.