Derby come from behind to beat Bolton 3-1 with a stoppage-time winner

Derby County came from a goal down at half-time to beat Bolton Wanderers 3-1 at Pride Park on Friday night. It ended a run of 10 matches without a win, and it came in a game that had felt like a test for their manager.

Bolton took the lead before the break through Ruben Rodrigues, and Derby trailed 1-0 when the teams went in. Ryan Nyambe brought them level after the restart. It was the first goal of his career, and he got it at a moment when the home side needed one badly.

Jack Robinson then rose to head Derby 2-1 ahead. Bolton had chances to hit back, but Rhian Brewster made sure of the points in stoppage time, the extra minutes added at the end of a match for injuries and other delays. Brewster's goal sealed a 3-1 win.

The result came with John Eustace under scrutiny. Sky Sports reported that the Derby head coach, the man in charge of team selection and training, was under building pressure over his job before kick-off. Eustace said he "wasn't surprised" to still be in charge for the match. He has now been Derby boss for 21 months.

He took over in the final months of the 2024-25 season, and Derby stayed up on the last day of that campaign. That spell is part of why the club has kept faith with him, even through a difficult start to this season. Derby are in the Championship, the second tier of English football, which sits just below the Premier League.

Eustace praised his players' response after the comeback. He called the way they came back from a goal down "outstanding", and he spoke about the character of the group. Those are his words, and they were the story of the night for many of the 20,000 or so in the stadium.

Bolton were the visitors, but Derby have had the upper hand at home against them lately. Derby have now won their last six home league games against Bolton in a row. Across their last 16 home meetings in the league, they have won 12 and drawn four, according to the English Football League's pre-match statistics.

The Friday night kick-off at 8pm was shown live on Sky Sports, so plenty of people watched the late turnaround unfold on their screens. For a side that had gone 10 games without winning, the sight of a stadium roaring in the final minutes was the point. Derby have a win to build on now, and a reason to think the run is over.