Derby County 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers: Rooney denied victory in first game as caretaker Rams boss

Wayne Rooney was denied victory in his first game in sole charge of Derby County after Matt Bloomfield scored a late equaliser for fellow Championship strugglers Wycombe Wanderers.

While the quartet oversaw two defeats after Phillip Cocu’s exit on 14 November, Duane Holmes’ first goal of the season looked like being enough to earn Derby just their second victory in 14 league games.

Bloomfield, however, punished Derby’s second-half wastefulness and inability to clear danger in the 80th minute, poking home an equaliser that leaves Derby bottom of the table.

The Rams only just earned a point in the end as Wycombe’s Garath McCleary saw an injury-time effort hit the underside of the crossbar.

It is a result that does little to enhance Rooney’s bid to be named Rams manager on a permanent basis, with an appointment imminent as a proposed takeover led by Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nahyan nears completion.

For Wycombe, their first goal in five games earned them a third successive draw and leaves them third from bottom.

Rooney took temporary charge of the lowest scoring side in the three divisions of the English Football League when Cocu left, but goals are still hard to come by.

Holme’s flicked close-range finish to open the scoring in the 36th minute was Derby’s first goal from open play for 17 and a half hours.

Rooney, 35, made seven changes to a Derby side that had collected just three points from a possible 27 during a horrendous nine-game winless run.

Among the wholesale reshuffle, 34-year-old former Turkey international Colin Kazim-Richards was handed his first start in English football for seven years.

After Ryan Allsop denied Holmes and George Evans in quick succession midway through the first half, Kazim-Richards thought he had put the Rams ahead after steering home a Forsyth cross.

While the effort was disallowed for offside, the former Brighton, Celtic and Feyenoord forward set Holmes up for the opener a minute later.

Wycombe, who earlier lost midfielder Curtis Thompson to injury, improved after the break and after a succession of corners tested home keeper David Marshall with a header from Adebayo Akinfenwa.

A string of fine Allsop saves, foiling Holmes and Matthew Clarke, kept the visitors in the game.

The goalkeeper’s effort to keep a 76th-minute Clarke header out and Fred Onyedinma’s goalline clearance to deny Craig Forsyth on the rebound was decisive as Bloomfield stabbed home the leveller soon after in a game that the Chairboys themselves were unfortunate not to go on and win.