John Eustace applauds Patrick Agyemang display as Derby draw with Southampton

Derby head coach John Eustace applauded Patrick Agyemang after the United States striker scored his first goal for the club to earn a 1-1 draw against Southampton.

Agyemang is starting to find his feet in the Championship having brought Derby level just before the interval after Adam Armstrong had scored an early opener for the visitors.

The Rams are still searching for a win at Pride Park this season but Eustace believes the team, and Agyemang, are moving in the right direction.

“That’s his third game in a week, he’s still adapting to the Championship on the back of a six-week injury so to get that performance out of him was excellent,” Eustace said.

“He was exhausted yesterday after the two big shifts he’s put in, so to get another 60 minutes out of him was great and I was delighted with him getting his head on it.

“He has been through a lot but I think the biggest thing that people don’t realise is when you come to a different league, a different country, and then not train for six or seven weeks and try and get up to speed, it’s going to take time

“I thought we played really well. The football in the first half was excellent and there’s a lot more to come but there are gradual signs of us getting to where we want to be.”

Southampton lit the fuse on an open contest when Armstrong drove into the Derby box to score with a low shot in the seventh minute.

That provoked a spirited Derby response in which Andi Weimann and Carlton Morris were both denied by the reflexes of visiting goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

Derby keeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom then kept his side afloat with a superb save to claw out a Ross Stewart header, and that was a big moment as the home side equalised before the break.

Southampton switched off from a throw-in and Weimann crossed to the back post where Agyemang headed in.

Saints manager Will Still said: “If you look at the bigger picture we’ve got four points out of six from two tricky away games and I think we started the game really, really well.

“We caused them a lot of problems, scored a great goal and then we had a bit of a wobble. We struggled dealing with their direct physical style but slowly got a bit more control back and started growing into the game.

“Then I think we’ve been undone by a really poor refereeing decision, I can’t understand how it goes their way but again we need to react quicker, we need to be more aware of what’s going on.

“They took a quick throw, got a ball into the box and we reacted a bit too late and paid a really high price for it. We need to find a bit more composure and confidence in our decision making.”