Just when it looked like Derby County were going to secure their first league win since an April 2 victory over Luton Town, a late, late collapse has got Rams fans asking a whole lot of questions.

Young striker Jack Stretton fired the ball into the roof of the net on 77 minutes and it looked as though County were going to hang on to a priceless first victory of the campaign and remain unbeaten in all competitions.

Despite having an experienced defence though, Derby were carved up all too easily as young Harrison Burrows equalised for Peterborough in the first minute of stoppage time.

And a mistake from Nathan Byrne in his own area saw Siriki Dembele fire home the winner for Posh - in what was the 10th minute of injury time at London Road.

The two sides were still playing at that point due to an injury suffered by Derby striker Colin Kazim-Richards, who was stretchered off early on in the second half.

 

 

 

 

The nature of the injury is undisclosed but Kazim-Richards was pictured in pain with County's physio checking his ankle, and manager Wayne Rooney is fearing that the 34-year-old will be out for a while.

Kazim-Richards has now sent a message to Derby fans and everyone who has sent him well-wishes as he prepares for a spell on the sidelines.

The Verdict

If there was one player that Derby perhaps didn't want to lose right now it would have been Kazim-Richards.

Derby are still hamstrung by transfer restrictions which has only allowed Wayne Rooney to sign four players right now, and none of them have been a striker.

Kazim-Richards is the only senior out-and-out forward that is on Derby's books and now it looks like he's on the sidelines for a while, today's goalscorer Jack Stretton is the only man available now and it's a lot of responsibility to put on a young player's shoulders to lead the line.

Rooney will now be desperate for the club to sort their issues out with the EFL so he can bring some more attackers in to the club as the presence of Kazim-Richards is going to be a massive miss.