vincenzo montella scored the first ever goal at pride park.
vincenzo montella scored the first ever goal at pride park.
who scored the first ever goal at pride park?
vincenzo montella
the queen opened the stadium on 18 july 1997 in front of 30,000 spectators. by this time the south west corner, which stood between the main stand and the horseshoe, had been completed. the interest from potential corporate clients had been so high that pickering pressed the board to go the full distance with the stadium, raising the final initial costs of completing the stadium to £22 million. work was still in progress on the remaining corner on the opening day, leaving prince philip, duke of edinburgh to jokingly ask taylor woodrow contract manager ross walters, "haven't you been paid yet?" an overture to the opening ceremony came two weeks later, on 4 august 1997, with the first ever game at pride park stadium being played against italian side sampdoria, the match ending in a 1–0 defeat with vincenzo montella scoring the only goal of the game. the attendance of 29,041 was the highest for a derby county home game in 20 years. the fixture kicked off a tradition of pre-season friendlies being held against european teams at the ground, with barcelona (twice), cska moscow, athletic bilbao, lazio, ajax and mallorca all visiting the stadium over the next six years.
pride park stadium
smith prepared for derby's first tilt at the premiership with the signing of two players who had competed at that year's european championship finals in denmark defender jacob laursen and croatia midfielder aljoša asanović. after starting the season with a 3–3 draw with old rivals leeds united, derby lost only one of their opening seven fixtures, recording a creditable 1–1 home draw with champions manchester united as well as a 2–1 win at blackburn rovers and a 1–0 win over sunderland. however, a 0–2 defeat at home to wimbledon (derby's first home defeat in 23 league fixtures, equalling the club record set 67 years previously) showed a need for more experience and the inspired capture of paul mcgrath proved a key capture. a return of 10 points from a possible 12 in november saw the club peak at 9th in the league and showed that the club had the ability and wherewithal to stay in the premiership although a crippling injury list contributed to a ten match winless streak mid-season which made sure safety was never a foregone conclusion, derby finished the season in 12th, 6 points clear of relegation. some memorable results occurred along the way, including a 2–2 draw away to arsenal, a 4–2 victory over tottenham hotspur and a remarkable 3–2 victory against manchester united, in which mart poom and paulo wanchope made their derby debuts, wanchope scoring a goal which was later voted the greatest in the club's history. an extended fa cup saw the baseball ground hold its final three fa cup fixtures ending with a 0–2 defeat by middlesbrough in the quarter finals before the baseball ground held its final ever match, against arsenal, on 11 may 1996. in front of a sellout 18,287 crowd, the largest of the season, the match was preceded by a minutes silence as fans reflected on the memories of derby's 102 years at the old stadium. in the event of the match ashley ward, who finished the season with 9 goals, 2 behind leading scorer dean sturridge. opened the scoring in the opening ten minutes before arsenal took over to win 3–1 with ian wright grabbing the last ever first team goal at the ground in the 90th minute. the first two seasons at the pride park stadium were the peak of jim smith's time at derby county. with established stars such as stimac, wanchope and poom added to with the captures of stefano eranio and francesco baiano, derby became renowned for their "rare mix of style and guile", more intent on attacking than defending. smith's cosmopolitan side, built as he felt there was "very little market for british players" in the increasingly import soaked premiership, recorded two consecutive top ten finishes in the 1997–98 (9th) and 1998–99 (8th) premier league seasons, the first time the club had achieved this since dave mackay in the mid-1970s and flirted with qualification for europe on both occasions. pride park was something of a fortress in its first six months as, after the abandonment of its first game against wimbledon due to floodlight failure, stefano eranio's penalty in a 1–0 win over barnsley kicked off a 12 match unbeaten start at the stadium, which included a 3–0 win over arsenal and a 4–0 victory against southampton. the barnsley match had attracted a crowd of 27,232 (the club's biggest home attendance since 27, 783 watched a 3–1 home defeat against manchester united in february 1980) and it broke 30,000 for the first time since a 2–1 home defeat against nottingham forest in 1979, in a 2–2 draw against manchester united on 18 october 1997. derby started the 1997–98 at a fine pace, peaking at 4th following the 4–0 win over southampton, and francesco baiano, player of the season, flourished in particular; equalling the club record of scoring in six consecutive league games. one of these matches, a 5–2 victory over sheffield wednesday in which baiano scored twice, was the club's first victory at hillsborough since september 1936. however, aston villa's 1–0 win at pride park on 7 february 1997, the first home league defeat at the ground, saw the team lose their way somewhat and europe was missed out on, with only 16 points taken from the final 36 available. a second tilt at european football was made in the 1998–99 season, the rams peaking in 2nd place after 6 games with a 2–0 home win over leciester city, eventually finishing one place better off in 8th. they reached the fa cup quarter finals for the third time in seven years, losing out only to late nwankwo kanu goal in a 0–1 away defeat by arsenal, and recorded some memorable victories, including a league double over liverpool 2–1 at anfield and 3–2 at pride park and a 1–0 win over nottingham forest in the teams' first ever meeting at pride park. derby county were a club on the up; pride park's capacity was expanded (32,913 fans attended the 3–2 victory over liverpool) and derby's players were getting noticed – five had represented their countries at the 1998 world cup, and christian dailly was sold to blackburn rovers for £5.35m, comfortably the highest fee derby had ever received. the key departure, however, was steve mcclaren – smith's number two since he had taken the derby managerial position 3 years earlier – who departed in february 1999 to become sir alex ferguson's assistant at manchester united, winning the treble in his first 3 months at old trafford. the 1998–99 season was jim smith's derby county peak, as the financial demands of premier league football began to catch up with them.
history of derby county f.c. (1967–present)