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Norwich City Under-23s started their Premier League Cup campaign with a point after Tom Dickson-Peters’ last-minute equaliser earnt them a 3-3 draw against Derby County on Monday afternoon.
The young Canaries saw one change from the side that beat Aston Villa 4-2 at Carrow Road just three days previous, Nelson Khumbeni being replaced by Flynn Clarke in the starting lineup.
City started the game the brighter of the two teams, finding an opening in just the sixth-minute for the lead as Tom Dickson-Peters went one-on-one with Harrison Foulkes, his shot just wide of the target.
Failing to put their one chance to use early on, the Rams went on to find the lead ten-minutes later as Osazee Aghatise marched up the pitch before coolly placing his shot past Dylan Berry.
Jon Rowe’s pass to an unmarked Liam Gibbs on the edge of the Derby box almost gave City a beautiful leveller as the midfielder curled his shot for the far corner, only denied by the Rams’ shot-stopper.
Taking control of the game from this point on, the Canaries continued to hunt their leveller. Flynn Clarke settled into the game nicely on his first start for the side, turning and picking out Tony Springett in the Rams’ 18-yard box, but the forward was shouldered off the ball before he was able to get a shot off.
City almost had their hands on that leveller shortly after with Jon Rowe’s header at the back post, but saw it painfully cleared off the line by the Derby defence.
Just a minute later, that missed chance was soon forgotten as City finally found their leveller. Pulling the strings down the left once again, Jon Rowe did excellently to beat his man and square the ball into the box for Tom Dickson-Peters, the forward making no mistake in his finish from close-range.
Before half time, disaster struck for the Canaries when a deflected ball off the crossbar fell kindly to Bartosz Cybulski in the six-yard box, the forward heading in with ease to regain the lead by the break.
The second half saw City emerge with even more determination to get back on level terms with the Rams, bombarding the visitors with chance after chance which they defended astutely.
With their first chance of the half in the 70th minute, Derby took the lead to two as they were awarded a penalty after Saxon Earley’s foul inside the City 18-yard box, which was subsequently converted from the spot by Ali Al Hamadi.
While they were two goals behind, the Canaries didn’t falter as they piled the pressure on Derby. With just seven minutes remaining, Josh Giurgi’s weighted pass set Dickson-Peters up in the box perfectly for the striker to nestle his shot into the back of the net, pulling one back.
With just minutes of added time remaining, it was a fairytale end to the game for Dickson-Peters as the ball fell to the forward in the six-yard box after several deflections, the striker burying it past Foulkes.
The full time whistle sounded shortly after, seeing City take a hard-earned point from their first Premier League Cup fixture, and Dickson-Peters taking home the match ball for his hat-trick heroics.
Norwich City starting XI: Berry, Earley (Shipley, 77), Tomkinson, Warner, Giurgi, Gibbs, Kamara, Clarke (Khumbeni, 46), Springett (Brooke, 73), Rowe, Dickson-Peters Subs not used: Rose, Hutchinson Goals: Dickson-Peters (42, 83, 90+2) Bookings: Kamara (44)
Derby County starting XI: Foulkes, Burton, Hutchinson, R. Thompson, Bardell, Cashin, S. Thompson (Al Hamadi, 65), Clarke, Cybulski, Dixon, Aghatise Subs not used: Soloman, Izandle, Grewal-Pollard, Ebiowei Goals: Aghatise (16), Cybulski (45), Al Hamadi (70) Bookings: Bardell (28), Burton (60)