Norwich City 0-1 Derby County: Wayne Rooney scores the winning goal after wasting a Timo Bucky penalty kick

Teemu Pukki scored only two goals at Carrow Road in 2020, after scoring 12 goals at Canaries Stadium in 2019.

Wayne Rooney missed a late free kick from the penalty spot Timo Poke missed a penalty as Derby scored his first points in the championship season by smashing and snatching the victory at Carrow Road.

Rooney hit a superb curled ball behind Tim Kroll from just over 20 yards three minutes before the match ended after Derby absorbed Norwich pressure during most of the match.

Bucky had a chance to put Norwich ahead early in the second half after George Evans hit O’Neal Hernandez’s shot, but the Finnish striker backed away when he hit the penalty spot that cut the crossbar.

Norwich could still save a point, but ex-Canary goalkeeper David Marshall made an impressive save to frustrate Jordan Hogel’s header at close range.

Derby coach Philip Coco made five changes to the team that lost 4-0 at home to Blackburn seven days ago – their third successive defeat for Rams – and their transformation into a defensive formation was largely successful.

They remained in control for the first 15 minutes – the same period they had conceded three times against the Rovers – and only Nathan Byrne’s goalkeeping intervention prevented Hernandez from scoring with BuckyBalls.

But Norwich was running out of ideas until Evans’ foolishly raised arm seemed to have given them the lead, only for Bucky to literally slip away.

The frustrating year of 2020 for the striker, who has scored only one goal in his past 19 matches, continued to be wasted after he pursued his tournament campaign of 29 goals with 11 goals in Norwich’s short stay in the First Division.

Derby captured his heart, and shortly after substitute Morgan Whitaker executed Rooney with a heavy blow from Kroll, Rooney – who had missed two chances earlier – defeated the Dutch goalkeeper with a steady blow.

Norwich, who left midfielder Todd Cantwell out of the squad again amid rumors of a move to Leeds United, may have scored Rooney’s two goals but Marshall blocked Max Aarons’ shot and Hogel’s late header.

The Canary Islands – who are facing a battle to hang on to Aarons, Cantwell and Amy Buendia in this transfer window after they also agreed to allow defender Ben Godfrey to leave for £ 25m for Everton – have now failed to score in 14 of their past 18 league matches.