Dion Sanderson marshalled Derby County’s defence to a clean sheet in their victory over Birmingham City
Dion Sanderson of Derby County.(Image: Photo by Lindsey Parnaby/Shutterstock)
Dion Sanderson helped Derby County get one over on his former club Birmingham City at the weekend and led the Rams’ celebrations.
The former Blues captain was bouncing post-match after helping Derby to a 1-0 victory that kept their dream of gate-crashing the play-offs alive.
Blues’ interest in the top-six ended at Pride Park and an inquest will come at the end of the campaign after they failed to seriously challenge for promotion.
Sanderson was one of the players Chris Davies deemed surplus to requirements last year and Derby were able to pick him up on the cheap in January.
The 26-year-old didn’t cover himself in glory during the 2023/24 season in which Blues were relegated and despite being given a reprieve by Davies, Sanderson quickly lost his place in League One and lost the trust of the manager.
A glaring mistake in Blues’ 1-1 draw with Northampton Town in November 2024 proved to be the final straw for Davies and Sanderson was shipped out in January. When he returned to Blues from his loan at Blackburn Rovers, Sanderson was excluded from the first team’s pre-season before Derby came calling in August.
John Eustace stepped in to sign Sanderson for a fourth different Championship club and he’s managed to get a tune out of him.
OPINION
Alex Dicken
OPINION
Alex Dicken
Sanderson has started 33 of the eighth-placed Rams’ 39 league games this season.
“Dion in my opinion is a top character, a top person and he needs people to believe in him,” Eustace said.
“Where people might think he’s not great with the ball, and that kind of stuff, the performances he’s put in this season have been excellent and it’s about winning games, it’s about keeping clean sheets and it’s about creating unity in the dressing room and he ticks all those boxes.
“Before you get carried away about wanting to play certain ways and bringing in top players, it’s about winning and over the course of the game Dion Sanderson certainly won’t let you down and that’s why we signed him.”
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