The Rams overcame Swansea City at Pride Park yesterday as they secured a 2-0 win to move into the Championship’s top six
10:52, 15 Feb 2026Updated 10:52, 15 Feb 2026
Rhian Brewster of Derby County celebrates scoring the opening goal against Swansea City with teammates(Image: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock)
Goals from Rhian Brewster and Patrick Agyemang moved Derby County into the Championship play-off positions as they beat Swansea 2-0 at Pride Park.
While Swansea enjoyed large bouts of possession, Derby goalkeeper Josh Vickers remained largely untroubled until the second half when he had to make a save to thwart Malick Yalcouye.
Derby had started the game with some purpose and won a free-kick right on the edge of the box.
The ball was worked to Sam Szmodics whose effort was cleared but it didn’t matter as the referee’s assistant raised his flag.
Joe Ward was next to try his luck and this time forced a good save from Lawrence Vigouroux who got down to his left to prevent Derby from taking the lead.
Swansea then controlled possession for large spells with Ji-Sung Eom a particular nuisance with his movement.
Ward had to block a shot from Eom before Liam Cullen bent a free-kick just inches wide of the top corner. Eom then cut inside from the left with the space opening up in front of him but curled his shot wide of the upright.
Derby knew they needed to improve in the final third after the break and when Szmodics’ deflected shot went behind for a corner, Derby moved in front.
Callum Elder’s delivery was curled into the box where Brewster’s header came back to him and he drilled the follow-up past Vigouroux. It was to get better for Derby when Agyemang made it 2-0 with a towering header from another Elder delivery.
At the other end, Vickers had to be alert to thwart Malick Yalcouye but it was Derby who came closest to adding to the scoreline as Agyemang went close with a header before Jaydon Banel forced a save from Vigouroux.
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Derby get their flowers
John Eustace’s response as to how he planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day after this victory was greeted with a smile.
“Watching Watford,” he joked, after his team had delivered the flowers to the masses in the way of this 2-0 victory ahead of their trip to Vicarage Road next week.
It was not a vintage Derby performance, but they got their noses over the line through persistence and two goals from set-pieces.
Even though Swansea enjoyed good spells of possession, there was never a point when you felt Derby were ever in danger of capsizing.
Josh Vickers was only ever really called upon in the second half when he had to keep out a shot from Malick Yalcouyé.
It was just a question of whether Derby could prise open the defence at the other end, and not for the first time, corner kicks proved a good source of attack.
Callum Elder’s precise deliveries were converted by Rhian Brewster and Patrick Agyemang, and it was pretty much job done. The result lifted Derby into the Championship play-off positions, and this team is undoubtedly ahead of schedule compared to where John Eustace perhaps thought they would be at this stage of his reign.
But opportunity has knocked, and the fans are enjoying the ride, judging by the celebrations post-match as Jaydon Banel was the latest player to spark a rendition of the Bounce. Love was definitely in the air.
Agyemang keeps on firing
It is now 10 goals for the season for the American and surely he cannot be overlooked by the USA when it comes to the World Cup squad this summer.
He’s playing regularly, he’s improving with every month that passes, and he continues to plague Championship defences.
He would probably be the first to admit that he got a little frustrated in the first half as a result of some decisions that went against him here. But he kept his head down, kept on going, and in the end his reward was a towering header from a corner.
The beauty of Agyemang is that he can score goals of all different types. We saw the razor-sharp finish at Sheffield Wednesday, we’ve seen the tap-ins and we’ve also witnessed the headers too.
He is improving all the time and while the £5.9m fee was a lot of money to spend by Championship standards, with every week that passes, it’s actually proving to be one hell of a bargain.
A nice surprise
The pictures of Carlton Morris on the training ground that Derby plastered on their social media accounts in the run-up to this game, did indicate that the forward could be involved.
Eustace did not commit in his pre-match press conference on Thursday other than to say they would run a final check on him the day before the game.
As it transpired, Morris was able to take his place on the bench which was not just a huge boost to the fans but also the dressing room.
Eustace admitted afterwards that the plan was never to play Morris for an extended period of time and he only got a minute or two here when he came on as a substitute.
Derby will still continue to take extra care with him, and so they should, but his presence only added to the feel-good factor around Pride Park.
Dion delivers
The fact that Derby only paid a six-figure sum for Dion Sanderson has to be one of the Championship’s greatest steals when it comes to the list of transfers that have taken place this season.
Birmingham must have some exceptional defenders to let somebody of his quality go for such a relatively small sum of cash, but their loss has been Derby’s gain.
While a calf injury has been a nuisance in the last couple of weeks, the centre-back was restored to the team here and he delivered yet another assured performance.
In Zan Vipotnik, Derby were facing one the Championship’s top scorer with 15 goals. And yet for all of the defences he has troubled this season, Sanderson was not one of them.
The forward got very little change out of Sanderson which led to one fan joking on social media that when he got home, and emptied his pockets, Vipotnik would have tumbled out of them.