Derby manager Frank Lampard handed star billing to Harry Wilson but then told the winger he can improve after the 2-1 victory over Swansea.
The on-loan Liverpool forward became Derby’s top scorer but Lampard still believes there is more to come from the 21-year-old.
Derby went into the match without the injured Jack Marriott who had scored six goals in eight games but it hardly mattered as they dominated a flimsy Swansea and took control with two Wilson strikes.
The first was another spectacular effort from 25 yards that swerved past Erwin Mulder in the 30th minute although Swansea were guilty of backing off the Wales international.
They handed Wilson another invitation he did not refuse 10 minutes later when Oli McBurnie passed the ball to him and he scored his eighth of the season from the edge of the area.
Wilson was close to a hat-trick with a 20 yard shot that Mulder pushed away and Derby should have killed the game off before Fikayo Tomori turned a corner past Derby team-mate Scott Carson in the 87th minute.
Lampard admitted it should have been more comfortable for his team and said: “The only thing lacking was a third or fourth goal and when you don’t score that you leave yourself open to a nervy end.
“Harry is on good form and two very good strikes, particularly the first one and in a game like today which is a bit tetchy at the beginning you need a moment of magic and he produced it.
“I liked his all-round performance because your eye can easily be drawn to Harry’s strikes but he’s a young developing player and I thought his work rate was very good.
“He gets the headlines, deservedly so for the moments of quality we know he can produce but he still needs to work off the ball – he did do that today – and he picked up nice positions where he could get the ball and turn.”
But there was bad news for Derby when Lampard revealed defender Curtis Davies will be out for the season with an Achilles injury he suffered at Stoke in midweek.
Lampard said: “He’s going to have an operation on Monday, six months is the number so it’s the season which is a big blow. He’s club captain, we’ve had a few bad blows in the last few weeks and we’ll have to dig deep as a squad.”
Swansea manager Graham Potter said: “I thought Derby deserved to win the match but I’m very proud of the players in that they stuck in, hung in there and made the last 20 minutes a bit of an interesting encounter.
“First half we weren’t quite ourselves, we can do better than that but the quality of the first goal was a great strike.
“We are in a process where we have a young group so there is a bit of learning for everybody, myself included, but the character and the willingness not to give up was there again.
“It’s been a bad week in terms of results, there’s no getting away from that and we knew it was going to be a tough and challenging week.
“We’ve learnt a bit but of course we have to try and turn that learning into better performances and results.”
