Brian O'Neil was the Derby reserves hero last night at Highfield Road. His late, late goal earned the Rams a deserved draw.
Coventry City Reserves had twice been in the lead during the match, courtesy of two goals from Gary McSheffrey.
The Rams fielded two new trialists. Patrick Foletti (goalkeeper) was beaten after just 5 minutes, with an unstoppable shot from McSheffrey. Rams manager John Gregory was also at Highfield Road to see Foletti and fellow trialist Andreas Buck (midfield) show what they have to offer.
Coventry kept the lead until half time. In the second half Derby dominated the game and had much the better of the goal scoring opportunities. It was no surprise that Adam Bolder made the scores level after just 5 minutes of the second period. He followed in a Deon Burton shot, which the goalkeeper couldn't hold on to. After beating a couple of Coventry defenders his hit a superb shot into the roof of the net.
As Derby continued to dominate the outcome looked more in favour of a Derby win than anything else. However the game was turned on its head when a breakaway from Coventry saw then score their second goal with only 15 minutes left on the clock.
Derby to their credit didn't let their heads drop and with time running out received their reward when Brian O'Neill rose higher than everyone else to power in a header in the dying seconds.