Price is right for Rams Debutant

Price is right for Rams Debutant

Lewis Price arrived at Pride Park on Boxing Day thinking he would be on the bench for the clash against Liverpool but during the pre-game warm up Stephen Bywater re-injured his shoulder and had to pull out of the clash handing a league debut to the 23-year-old Welsh international keeper.

Rams boss Paul Jewell was pleased for the young keeper, he said: "Price had an excellent debut in goal, he was nervy early on but pulled off some fine saves late to keep us in it."

It turned out to be a bitter-sweet Premier League debut for Price as Derby came within a whisker of taking a point from the game but were undone in the 90th minute when a Steven Gerrard strike gave Liverpool the points. But the experience has only made him hungry for more games.

"To come in and play your first Premier League game against Liverpool is a bit different," Price said.

"I thought I did alright but there are still a lot of things I can improve on, I'm happy to play but we really wanted a result."

He added: "Hopefully, I can play a few more games and go on from there. Liverpool is one of the biggest teams out there so, whatever I come up against now, I should be alright. It's just nice to get my first game out of the way."

Price began nervously and his kicking in the first half was poor, put he pulled off a series of fine second half saves to keep the Rams in the game at 1-1 as Liverpool pushed for a winner, the 83rd minute save from Xabi Alonso was stunning but his efforts were ultimately in vain when Gerrard scored late on.

Price said: "Liverpool are the type of team who don't stop, and in the end, they just had a bit more than we did. We switched off for a second and they scored the goal."

He added: "It seems we keep conceding goals in the last two minutes but we keep picking ourselves up. There's still the belief there, especially the way we played in the second half.

"We were playing one of the best teams in Europe, so you've got to have that belief."
Gerrard's winner came as Price and Jay McEveley tried desperately to get the ball to safety and it seemed that McEveley kicked the ball out of his hands.

Price said: "It hit me and I've gone to get the second ball but there's no time to shout to Jay to leave it. He thinks he can hook it clear and that's what he tried to do.

"Unfortunately, it's clipped his heel and dropped down. You don't expect that. Usually, it goes clear and you hold on. But things like that kill you."