Tag Archives: Chris Martin

12th September – Martin at the double for Rams first win

13 Sunday Sep 2015

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12th September

Preston North End   1      Daniel Johnson 90+12

Derby County          2    Chris Martin 23, 36

With a sense of relief, and some characteristic jitteriness at the end of the game, the Rams won their first match of the season at the seventh attempt with this victory at Deepdale.

The win was overshadowed by a serious looking injury to skipper Chris Baird that lead to 15 minutes of added time following him being stretchered off the pitch. Fortunately Baird was released from hospital following a scan later in the evening.

This was a game where Derby looked comfortable for long periods, scored two excellent goals and played some attractive incisive football.

As is often the case, though, we fell deeper and deeper as the game moved to its end and invited the hosts onto us.

Is this a fitness and stamina thing I wonder? It is to be hoped that as the season progresses we will look stronger and fitter towards the end of games.

Hearing a Paul Clement team announced is turning out to be an exercise in surprises and this game was no exception.

Lee Grant was one of five changes from the team that lost at home to Leeds United. Scott Carson was not injured as he was named on the bench, and this was not I change I would have predicted or indeed wanted.

To be fair to Granty and the boss though he played very well and made a couple of important saves in the second half – so what do I know ?

Other starting changes included the two deadline day signings Bradley Johnson & Jacob Butterfield, Stephen Warnock & Cyrus Christie.

Along with Scott Carson the injured George Thorne stepped down while Craig Forsyth, Jeff Hendrick and Jamie Hanson moved to the bench.

The debutants looked good and gave us something new, Johnson particularly adding urgency, physical presence and a bristle to our midfield

Both Johnson & Butterfield made their presence felt in the first minute with strong challenges and Johnson was much in evidence in the first quarter of an hour including a trademark left foot pile driver of a shot which was deflected away for a corner.

The Rams took the lead for the first time this season with a goal on 23 minutes born of Johnny Russell’s superb pass, played into Chris Martin who put the ball away with coolness for his third goal of the season.

It was almost immediately 2-0 as Tom Ince broke into the area, his chance for a shot gone he played it to Bradley Johnson who clipped the post with his effort.

Why doesn’t Chris Martin take more free kicks?

I’ve seen him score a couple of belters and on 36 minutes he put another one away after the ever impressive Johnny Russell ran the Lilywhites’ defence ragged and won a free kick on the edge of the D to put us 2-0 up.

This was our best half of the season, the home team didn’t carve out a meaningful chance and Lee Grant had little to do.

The Rams started well in the second half, moving the ball well around and into the Preston area but the momentum eased off as the hour mark neared and the home team pressed more.

Lee Grant pulled off two excellent saves on 70 & 75 mins from Stevie May & Daniel Johnson and then a Joe Garner shot struck the post and flew back into Grant’s arms to the relief of the army of 3,000+ travelling Rams.

The injury to Chris Baird looked a bad one as he came off worst in a clash of heads and required treatment on the pitch before being carried off.

This left the Rams one player short for the remainder of the game with Hendrick, Weimann and Forsyth already having been brought on for Butterfield, Ince & Warnock.

The long delay seemed to take the wind out of Preston’s sails, their energy being diminished after the restart.

Without over committing the Rams carved out another chance with Hendrick pulling the ball back for Weimann whose excellent shot was pushed away by Jordan Pickford.

As the half moved into the 57th minute and, everyone was wondering just when the game would finish, the season of deflected goals chalked up another one as Daniel Johnson’s shot looped past the helpless Grant.

Flashbacks to the Birmingham game last season not withstanding we held on for those valuable three points.

Chris Martin and Johnny Russell were excellent again and, indeed, are solely responsible for our league goals so far this season.

Getting this first win was important and takes some of the pressure off. Next up is a trip to Reading, fresh from a 5-1 thumping of Ipswich Town.

With a busy treatment table this is going to be another test of the Rams squad.

Played GD Pts
12 Leeds United 6 1 8
13 Nottingham Forest 6 0 8
14 Derby County 6 0 7
15 MK Dons 6 -1 7
16 Wolves 6 -2 7
17 Bolton Wanderers 6 -3 6

29th August – Uwe’s the man with the plan (again) as Leeds triumph

30 Sunday Aug 2015

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29th August

Derby County          1          Chris Martin 48

Leeds United           2          Tom Adeyemi 43, Chris Wood 88

Uwe Rosler seems to be a nice bloke but I’m taking a dislike to the way that every time he rocks up to the iPro, with whichever team he is in charge of, he waltzes away with the three points.

It is never fun losing, even more so when Leeds United are the opponents.

I wrote in the Birmingham blog that we look so much better when we move the ball at pace and for the first twenty minutes or so of the second half of this game we looked a good team.

Starting out 1-0 down the Rams came at Leeds with urgency and fire, in stark contrast to the performance in the first 45 minutes.

We could have won the game in that first part of the second half. Chris Martin equalised within three minutes with a very well taken goal.

Leeds looked on the ropes as wave after wave of attacks came from the Rams and the crowd, energised by the display, roared them on.

Jeff Hendrick missed a straightforward chance when presented with an opportunity from 12 yards out and we also looked to have been denied a penalty when Andreas Weimann’s attempt to play the ball across the six yard line, when released into the penalty area, was diverted by a sliding defender’s arm.

We didn’t cash in when we had the upper hand and paid for it as close to the end of the match Chris Wood picked up the ball outside of the area, pulled across to the right, turned and fired in a shot off Scott Carson’s left hand post to take the points and deliver Leeds’ first win at Derby for thirteen years.

It was very disappointing to not win, never mind lose, especially as we now go into the international break still looking for those first three points of the season.

It is still early days in this season though and those of us with a few years under our belts will remember that the promotions of 2006/7 and 1995/6 did not see us roaring out of the blocks.

The only concern I have is about whether Paul Clement is finding the transition to top job not as straightforward as he would have hoped.

Watching how we have played so far this season I’m not clear about what our approach is, it makes me wonder if Clement has found his managerial “voice” yet?

We are mostly less urgent going forward and only seem to wake up when we have gone a goal down (as we have done now in every game so far apart from Bolton)

Our defence does looks more secure than it did in those chaotic end of season games and the huge loss of Will Hughes after 30 minutes of the season cannot be overestimated for the scale of its impact on any new manager’s plans.

There were two changes for this game with previously injured midfielders Jeff Hendrick & Jamie Hanson returning with Darren Bent dropping to the bench and Cyrus Christie, not for the first time this season, dropping out of the match day squad completely.

Leeds started on the front foot and had fashioned a decent chance within a couple of minutes. We lacked creativity and struggled to get our key players into the game.

Both Johnny Russell and Tom Ince briefly threatened when given the ball in dangerous areas but we were effectively shut down by the visitors who looked sharp and lively across the park.

It looked like we might get to the half time break even-stevens when we fell asleep at a corner, it was taken short and from the subsequent cross Tom Adeyemi had plentiful time and space to plant a header past Scott Carson.

The Rams barrage at the start of the second half seemed to bode well but the air started to go out of the game with about 20 minutes to go.

George Thorne left the field midway through the half with what looked like a knock to his thigh and though Andi Weimann scampered about energetically a position either wide left or on the left of a three behind the striker does not seem to be suiting him.

Darren Bent replaced Johnny Russell with about 10 minutes to go and looked a little lost, sometimes looking for space where Chris Martin already was, sometimes being on a slightly different wavelength to his team mates.

Chris Wood had missed a decent headed chance to give us fair warning, and send Rosler into a rage of frustration on the sidelines, but with three minutes to go he made no mistake with a much harder chance and the game, and the points were lost.

Played GD Pts
17 Preston North End 5 -2 5
18 Brentford 4 -1 4
19 Derby County 5 -1 4
20 Bristol City 5 -4 4
21 Blackburn Rovers 5 -2 3
22 Huddersfield Town 5 -3 3

29th August – Uwe’s the man with the plan (again) as Leeds triumph

30 Sunday Aug 2015

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29th August

Derby County          1          Chris Martin 48

Leeds United           2          Tom Adeyemi 43, Chris Wood 88

Uwe Rosler seems to be a nice bloke but I’m taking a dislike to the way that every time he rocks up to the iPro, with whichever team he is in charge of, he waltzes away with the three points.

It is never fun losing, even more so when Leeds United are the opponents.

I wrote in the Birmingham blog that we look so much better when we move the ball at pace and for the first twenty minutes or so of the second half of this game we looked a good team.

Starting out 1-0 down the Rams came at Leeds with urgency and fire, in stark contrast to the performance in the first 45 minutes.

We could have won the game in that first part of the second half. Chris Martin equalised within three minutes with a very well taken goal.

Leeds looked on the ropes as wave after wave of attacks came from the Rams and the crowd, energised by the display, roared them on.

Jeff Hendrick missed a straightforward chance when presented with an opportunity from 12 yards out and we also looked to have been denied a penalty when Andreas Weimann’s attempt to play the ball across the six yard line, when released into the penalty area, was diverted by a sliding defender’s arm.

We didn’t cash in when we had the upper hand and paid for it as close to the end of the match Chris Wood picked up the ball outside of the area, pulled across to the right, turned and fired in a shot off Scott Carson’s left hand post to take the points and deliver Leeds’ first win at Derby for thirteen years.

It was very disappointing to not win, never mind lose, especially as we now go into the international break still looking for those first three points of the season.

It is still early days in this season though and those of us with a few years under our belts will remember that the promotions of 2006/7 and 1995/6 did not see us roaring out of the blocks.

The only concern I have is about whether Paul Clement is finding the transition to top job not as straightforward as he would have hoped.

Watching how we have played so far this season I’m not clear about what our approach is, it makes me wonder if Clement has found his managerial “voice” yet?

We are mostly less urgent going forward and only seem to wake up when we have gone a goal down (as we have done now in every game so far apart from Bolton)

Our defence does looks more secure than it did in those chaotic end of season games and the huge loss of Will Hughes after 30 minutes of the season cannot be overestimated for the scale of its impact on any new manager’s plans.

There were two changes for this game with previously injured midfielders Jeff Hendrick & Jamie Hanson returning with Darren Bent dropping to the bench and Cyrus Christie, not for the first time this season, dropping out of the match day squad completely.

Leeds started on the front foot and had fashioned a decent chance within a couple of minutes. We lacked creativity and struggled to get our key players into the game.

Both Johnny Russell and Tom Ince briefly threatened when given the ball in dangerous areas but we were effectively shut down by the visitors who looked sharp and lively across the park.

It looked like we might get to the half time break even-stevens when we fell asleep at a corner, it was taken short and from the subsequent cross Tom Adeyemi had plentiful time and space to plant a header past Scott Carson.

The Rams barrage at the start of the second half seemed to bode well but the air started to go out of the game with about 20 minutes to go.

George Thorne left the field midway through the half with what looked like a knock to his thigh and though Andi Weimann scampered about energetically a position either wide left or on the left of a three behind the striker does not seem to be suiting him.

Darren Bent replaced Johnny Russell with about 10 minutes to go and looked a little lost, sometimes looking for space where Chris Martin already was, sometimes being on a slightly different wavelength to his team mates.

Chris Wood had missed a decent headed chance to give us fair warning, and send Rosler into a rage of frustration on the sidelines, but with three minutes to go he made no mistake with a much harder chance and the game, and the points were lost.

Played GD Pts
17 Preston North End 5 -2 5
18 Brentford 4 -1 4
19 Derby County 5 -1 4
20 Bristol City 5 -4 4
21 Blackburn Rovers 5 -2 3
22 Huddersfield Town 5 -3 3

15th August – Chances galore but just the point for Rams

16 Sunday Aug 2015

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15th August

Derby County          1          Chris Martin 68

Charlton Athletic    1          Tony Watt 48

The first home league game of the season saw the Rams create numerous chances in a game they dominated against the visiting Charlton.

There was only Chris Martin’s first goal of the season to show for it though and a single point was the outcome after the Addicks had taken the lead early in the second half by way of Tony Watt’s deflected strike.

Disappointment at the result is tempered though by the Rams performance. A little slow at the outset, the Rams controlled long periods of the game and played with the precision and skill we have become used to over the last two seasons.

Control through the midfield was down to George Thorne and Jamie Hanson who both had excellent games.

Home grown Hanson was one of three changes to the team from the one that drew at Bolton last week along with Jeff Hendrick and Craig Forsyth replacing the injured Will Hughes and Craig Bryson, Stephen Warnock stepping down to the bench.

Unlike last Saturday we lined up in the old familiar 4-3-3 and I was interested to see how Hanson would flourish in the more creative role in midfield as opposed to the holding role.

Well he shone.

This fella can really pass a ball and his repertoire of long and short passes was superb. He was also tigerish in the tackle and put himself about well.

Understandably he seemed to fade towards the end of the game, not helped by a heavy tackle he was on the receiving end of, but his assist for Chris Martin’s goal was neat and incisive and he can be well pleased with his performance.

George Thorne was even more impressive. Starts circulating in the twittersphere after the game point out that he was the only player to make more than a 100 passes in the Championship and all at a success rate of 97%.

The bare stats don’t tell the whole story though; Thorne bossed the midfield, was always available to accept the ball, set the attacking tempo with some superb passes and also snuffed out any number of Charlton moves.

He is one hell of a player and it is great to see him playing.

The only thing he should desist from are tackles like the one on the edge of the Addicks area with 15 minutes to go that left him on the turf and had most of the crowd ignoring the game and watching him gingerly get to his feet and get moving again…..we just do not need that kind of stress…

Charlton are a decent side and will do well this season. Despite our dominance they also had a couple of chances, Simon Makienok heading over from a corner when well placed and also pulling a shot wide of goal from 12 yards out.

For much of the game though they were on the back foot as the Rams probed and created, moving the ball around with ease. In the first half Chris Martin missed a decent chance after a piece of trickery from Tom Ince and Jeff Hendrick (having a busy game) shot just wide from the edge of the area.

The Rams could easily have scored twice within the first minute of the second half but then found themselves a goal down when a shot from the lively Tony Watt spiralled off Richard Keogh past a wrong footed Scott Carson.

Derby responded well and keeper Nick Pope made excellent saves from Thorne, Martin and Ince around the equaliser which Martin finished well, turning and shooting into the corner following Hanson’s precise pass.

The goal seemed to perk Martin up, he had looked a little off his normal best in the first half but was much more involved afterwards.

We could have won, would have won on other days but the performance was good.

Charlton deserve credit for a dogged defensive performance, I lost count of the number of our shots from in and around the area that they blocked.

Our defence looks so much better with Shackell, Carson and Baird; Richard Keogh had an excellent game and looks much more settled next to Shackell, reminding us of the good defender he is.

Baird and Forsyth got forward well from the full back positions and there was even time for a cameo from Cyrus Christie, providing an attacking threat when Hanson was substituted in the last five minutes.

I thought the flags in the South Stand (as promoted and organised by @DCFC1884Support) looked great and I do prefer us shooting towards the South Stand in the second half as we did in this game.

A big test next game as Middlesbrough come to town on Tuesday night. We owe them a result.

                                                        P       GD    Pts

13     Burnley                                    2       0       2

14    Cardiff City                                2       0       2

15     Derby County                          2       0       2

16     Leeds United                           1       0       1

2nd May – Season over after miserable Rams surrender

03 Sunday May 2015

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2nd May

Derby County     0

Reading              3     Appiah 2, Hector 72, McCleary 85 (pen)

Looking forward to this game some months ago I was hoping that it would be a promotion party – how wrong that turned out to be.

Needing a point to secure a place in the playoffs the Rams folded against a Reading team with nothing to play for, the final margin of victory not being flattering to the Royals

Yet another 30,000 plus attendance at the iPro was loud and urgent in its support for the team but, after a first half burst that saw a Darren Bent shot saved by Adam Federici, a corner nearly turned into his own net by Nathan Chalobah, a Richard Keogh effort cleared off the line and, most damagingly, a Darren Bent penalty saved on the stroke of half time we offered nothing in the second half and meekly fell out of the top six.

Something has gone very wrong at this club of ours over the last eight weeks – certainly injuries have damaged the team but the lack of defensive organisation and leadership from the team over this period has been painful to see.

I’m as sick as everyone is with the talk swirling around Steve McClaren’s future but he has handled this situation very badly with his evasive answers and insistence on legal type phrases such as

“I am contracted to Derby County”

With talk this morning (Sunday) of his imminent departure to the wreckage that is Newcastle United to rescue them from relegation I hope that one way or another we can get some certainty at Derby soon and start to plan for next season.

In possibly his last selection as Rams Head Coach McClaren made three changes, Raul Albentosa, Johnny Russell and Darren Bent returning to the starting line up in place of Conor Sammon and Jesse Lingard who dropped to the bench and Simon Dawkins who was absent owing to a personal situation.

This saw Stephen Warnock line up as defensive midfielder in a move that did not make it to half time as he was withdrawn on 37 minutes with the Rams chasing the game.

He struggled to make an impact and seemed to wander from his station – at one point I noticed with some alarm that he was our furthest forward player chasing down a Reading defender.

You had to feel for the player as he trudged off to be replaced by Jesse Lingard but his signing has been a strange one and his impact has been limited.

We were chasing the game at this point because of a characteristic self inflicted catastrophe on 2 minutes.

To calm frayed nerves we needed an early goal in this game and we surely got one – but in the wrong net.

Working the ball around the Reading half Will Hughes turned and played a pass back over half way directly to Kwesi Appiah who raced away from Raul Albentosa, evaded Craig Forsyth, sidestepped Richard Keogh’s sliding block and slotted the ball easily past Lee Grant.

Deflating and disappointing but sadly not at all surprising after recent weeks.

When our player of the season and one of the finest players at this level is making such an error it is yet another symptom of a team in trouble.

We huffed and puffed for the rest of the first half knowing that despite everything a point would still be good enough to get us into the playoffs but Darren Bent’s tentative saved penalty was another disappointment in a long recent list.

The second half saw the last throw of the dice, the emergence of a clearly below par Chris Martin in place of Johnny Russell.

Subsequent to this game more information has come out about the injury he is carrying – not so much a recovering hamstring but also a problem with tendons around his knee which explains the length of time it has been taking for him to recover.

In truth by even playing the parts of games that he has our Number 9 has been playing above and beyond the call of duty and potentially worsening the injury.

We posed little if any threat in the second half and gave away a second goal on 72 minutes failing to take two opportunities to clear a corner allowing Michael Hector to stab home and bring an end to our season.

Time was then marked as the game drew down, Reading, a team who had not won in nine games and had lost to Rotherham last Tuesday, were enjoying themselves enormously and to the unknowing observer looked like the play off team.

The final indignity came on 85 minutes when Reading cult hero Jem Karacan found himself all alone with the ball on the six yard line and was brought down by Lee Grant. Gareth McCleary put the penalty away and the scoring was complete.

Not that it mattered, but I thought that Karacan was offside and that Grant may have got a hand onto the ball. Having watched it back this morning I see that he wasn’t and he didn’t, so fair play to the officials for those decisions.

Walking away after the final whistle I felt less bothered than I thought I would be and less angry – just deeply disappointed that we have missed out on such a good opportunity as this season was.

In amongst all of the gloom that was yesterday it must be noted that the minute’s applause for Colin Bloomfield prior to the match was a genuinely moving affair and very fitting.

A big well done to Sam Rush for very quickly stating that the club would do this.

The Rams’ season ends then in failure and no little turmoil. We’ve all been here before.

What comfort I can draw when I think ahead is that the club is run well and that in Sam Rush we have someone with the ability to take us on.

It is going to be an interesting summer (again)

1. AFC Bournemouth 46 +53 90
2. Watford 46 +41 89
3. Norwich City 46 +40 86
4. Middlesbrough 46 +31 85
5. Brentford 46 +19 78
6. Ipswich Town 46 +18 78
7. Wolves 46 +14 78
8. Derby County 46 +29 77

25th April – Rams rescue a point on day of sadness

25 Saturday Apr 2015

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25th April

Millwall      3       Lee Gregory 26, 36 (pen), 50 (pen)

Derby County   3  Tom Ince 42, Chris Martin 70 (pen), Jeff Hendrick 85

This game was overshadowed by the sad sad news prior to kick off of the death of Colin Bloomfield.

Always a warm and engaging broadcaster and clearly a much loved & respected colleague & friend the news hung over the day heavily. I have huge respect and admiration for Ed, Owen and Craig for managing to hold it together on Radio Derby when remembering their friend prior to kick off

A further reminder of the trivial nature of football was the minute’s silence before kick off in memory of those that lost their lives in the Bradford City disaster in 1985.

It is difficult, therefore, to get too upset at yet another series of self inflicted defensive disasters in this game which required another Tom Ince inspired rescue act to scrabble together a point against a limited team.

It is unbelievable that we have scored seven goals in the last two away games yet only taken two points from those games.

Like any other Rams fan I am finding it difficult to think of new ways of describing the awfulness of our defence in recent weeks, no matter which players happen to be on duty.

The season has gone off the rails since we beat Charlton so comfortably 2-0 on 24th February – an awful run of performances and a complete absence of defensive structure since then.

Since that Tuesday night our record is –

P 12  W 2  D 6  L 4  F 17  A 20  Pts 12

Which is bang on relegation form.

Injuries of course have affected us – but the complete loss of confidence and competence when we are defending surely has deeper roots than missing personnel.

There are probably as many theories around about why this has happened as there are Rams fans but a lot of my favourite theories centre on Steve McClaren and what has or has not happened in the last three months involving Newcastle United.

Something has happened for sure, a feeling that was personally only strengthened by what I saw and heard at the fans Q&A at the iPro last Thursday evening.

We were hit again by absences when selecting the team for this game. In addition to the injuries that Craig Bryson and Zak Whitbread picked up in the Huddersfield game Darren Bent was also missing owing to illness.

With Chris Martin only fit enough to be on the bench this meant the return of Conor Sammon to the starting eleven. The scarcity of options for the Rams was also illustrated by Lee Naylor returning to the bench.

Milwall came out strong, walking the line between firm and foul with early robust challenges on Stephen Warnock (twice) Will Hughes and Simon Dawkins.

Real opportunities in the first 25 minutes were absent in a game where the Rams were comfortably gaining control but just when we should have been looking to press on we unerringly found the self destruct button once again.

Lee Grant messed up a clearance from a back pass finding Millwall’s Lee Gregory, Craig Forsyth proved unable to make a goal line clearance as the ball bobbled in.

Ten minutes later, with the assistance of the referee, we were at it again. Jeff Hendrick surrendered possession too easily and Milwall broke on us, Richard Keogh made an excellent block in the area but the ball flew from his foot onto his hand and a nonsensical penalty was immediately awarded.

Lee Gregory put the spot kick away and we were 2-0 down.

Rams working on the now established principle of starting to go for it only when we’re two goals down pulled a goal back just before the break.

We won a free kick on the edge of the area and resident rescue act Tom Ince belted it in for his eleventh goal of his loan spell. Goodness knows where we would be without him and his goals in this later part of the season.

Whatever was said at half time clearly had as much impact upon our defence as all of the good advice and instruction they’ve received over the last few weeks as we went 3-1 down within five minutes.

Another self inflicted wound as Lee Grant gave away an unnecessary corner and shortly afterwards Jeff Hendrick wrestled Nicky Bailey to the ground; the inevitable penalty was awarded and put away by Lee Gregory for his hat-trick.

It was welcome back to Chris Martin who came on after 64 minutes and it was him who pulled us back to 3-2 thanks to a soft penalty we received when Tom Ince tumbled under some contact.

Our equaliser came from some excellent work from half time substitute Johnny Russell and Tom Ince, Ince heading the ball across the box for Jeff Hendrick who volleyed the ball into the top corner with five minutes to go.

There was some unsurprising nonsense from Milwall fans with violent scenes at the end of the game. So much has changed in football over recent years but some things that have remained the same, the unpleasantness of Millwall being one of them.

Another curate’s egg performance then, a point gained but we still require a point from the last game against Reading to secure a place in the play-offs.

If we got that point, and the way we are playing there is no great confidence of that, how would we cope in the play-offs?

That is a thought for a day other than this.

Played GD Pts
1. Watford 45 +41 88
2. AFC Bournemouth 44 +47 84
3. Middlesbrough 45 +31 84
4. Norwich City 45 +38 83
5. Ipswich Town 45 +19 78
6. Derby County 45 +32 77
7. Brentford 45 +16 75
8. Wolves 45 +12 75

11th April – Rams steal a point & hang on to play off spot

12 Sunday Apr 2015

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11th April

Derby County         1      Darren Bent 90+2

Brentford                1      Alex Pritchard 28

The Rams smuggled a point away from this game at the death in a manner that challenges the Hatton Gardens safety deposit box raid in terms of biggest heist of the week.

Brentford outplayed Derby throughout, looked better organised and missed a handful of decent chances to leave themselves vulnerable to the late equaliser that Darren Bent bundled home after a Jeff Hendrick miscued shot fell to him in the six yard box.

Satisfaction at gaining a point when it was scarcely deserved and hanging on to a play off spot were the only positives to take from this disjointed and confused Rams performance.

Light relief before the start of the game when I spotted Steve Claridge on the press benches at the iPro. It is safe to say that he is not a fan of doing his pre-match homework as he chatted on the phone and looked idly across the ground as kick off approached.

It was good to see Charlie George make a nostalgic appearance before kick off and be interviewed on the pitch, though slightly alarming to cast my mind back 40 years to remember seeing him play in a Rams shirt.

Chris Martin and Craig Bryson were the two additions to the starting line up replacing the suspended Will Hughes and Jamie Ward who dropped to the bench. A second outing then for the new look defence with skipper Richard Keogh and Stephen Warnock in the full back spots and Raul Albentosa & Craig Forsyth being the central defensive partnership.

The pre-match chit chat suggested we would set up in a 4-2-3-1 with Martin playing the central role but we quickly seemed to morph into a 4-4-2 with Johnny Russell and Tom Ince playing wide.

The first 15 minutes or so of the game was our best period with Tom Ince coming close twice with a whipped free kick that flew narrowly past David Button’s left hand post and then forcing the keeper into a smart save as he cut inside the area and shot towards the opposite corner.

We lost any control we had after that point though and Brentford increasingly came onto the front foot.

Even before the visitors took the lead, just before the half hour, with a very well taken Alex Pritchard strike from the edge of the area following a sweeping breakaway the Bees were looking organised, threatening and comfortable.

Uncertainty and lack of confidence leaked off the Rams players and transmitted itself to the fans. Steve McClaren was again on the sidelines early and in the first half Craig Bryson, notably, came to the technical area twice for an energetic exchange of views with the Head Coach leaving the discussion with an expression that suggested frustration rather than enlightenment.

The second half saw an ill Johnny Russell replaced by Simon Dawkins but there was no improvement and increased confusion as the game progressed.

Andre Gray missed three presentable second half opportunities for the Bees. Craig Forsyth, in his one high point of the game, made a superb goal line clearance to foil Jonathan Douglas and there seemed little prospect of us rescuing anything from the match.

Jeff Hendrick worked hard to get into the game and to try and create something but he was often isolated in his efforts.

For some unknown reason Chris Martin appeared to be stationed wide left for much of the second half which was an unexpected move and limited his involvement.

The suspended Will Hughes was sorely missed as we lacked creativity and control and as a final roll of the dice with fifteen minutes to go Stephen Warnock and Craig Bryson were withdrawn to be replaced with Jesse Lingard and Zak Whitbread.

Craig Forsyth returned to his normal left back berth – and spent much of the rest of the game being harangued by Steve McClaren to get forward.

In his short involvement Whitbread gave an assured and confident performance and I hope to see him starting on Tuesday when we take on Blackpool.

Time was running out when Jeff Hendrick picked up the ball outside of the Bees area and took his shot leading to Darren Bent bundling in his 10th goal of his loan period.

It was barely deserved but gratefully received and it felt unusual to be on the receiving end of some good fortune after our experiences this season.

This result along with wins for all of the top four realistically ends any hopes that we had for finishing in the top two this season. We are now in a battle for a play off spot with the table showing four teams fighting for two places, only a point separating the Rams, Ipswich, Brentford and Wolves.

Changing formations and experimenting with the defence in the final six games of a season is not something successful teams normally do.

There is something amiss at the heart of the team, the confident flowing Rams of last season seem a world away at the moment and we need to find some form quickly if we are to not only stumble into the playoffs but actually give a good account of ourselves in them.

That feels more like wishful thinking at the moment.

Played GD Pts
1. AFC Bournemouth 42 +46 80
2. Norwich City 42 +37 79
3. Watford 42 +36 79
4. Middlesbrough 42 +30 78
5. Derby County 42 +28 72
6. Ipswich Town 42 +16 71
7. Brentford 42 +15 71
8. Wolves 42 +12 71

6th April – Relief as Rams back to winning ways at Wigan

06 Monday Apr 2015

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6th April

Wigan Athletic    0

Derby County      2        Chris Martin 51, Darren Bent 81

Chris Martin’s 20th goal of the season and his inspiring performance after coming on as a half time substitute lead the Rams to our first win in eight at the DW Stadium.

There is no doubting the contribution our number 9 makes to our success and the difference he made to a poor and lethargic first half performance was a clear indication of the value he adds to the team.

The prospect of facing a poor and disjointed Wigan team heading for the Third Division (as it should be called…none of this League One nonsense) on a very poor pitch had the makings of a banana skin for a team as lacking in confidence as we were entering this game.

The first half was a poor spectacle that we allowed Wigan to increasingly dominate with their physical approach but the introduction of Martin at half time changed our approach and as soon as we took the lead Wigan’s threat receded.

The Rams made four changes for this game with Raul Albentosa, Stephen Warnock, Jeff Hendrick and Jamie Ward coming into the starting eleven replacing the injured Ryan Shotton, George Thorne and Craig Bryson as well as the struggling Cyrus Christie who dropped to the bench.

There was lots of puzzlement amongst the fans when looking at the defence  Richard Keogh at right back, Craig Forsyth at centre half.

It felt like a gambler’s throw of the dice to me and not the kind of experimentation you indulge in with six games of a season to go and all to play for….but I am delighted to be proved wrong as the new defence delivered the first clean sheet since our last win on 24th February when we beat Charlton 2-0.

Steve McClaren spoke after the game about having two “talkers” in the full back positions in Keogh & Warnock and also about how they had identified left centre half as being a position that Craig Forsyth could play.

Having seen Keogh & Shotton and also Keogh & Albentosa, both right footed combinations, sometimes struggle as a central partnership, it was no surprise that a lefty was being thought of but it was definitely a surprise to see us go for it with Fozzy today.

The back five had a good game, Granty making two excellent saves and the skipper and Fozzy coping well with their new positions. Raul started slowly but Warnock had a good game, as did the unit as a whole, albeit against a team that had not won a home match since August.

The Rams should have been ahead on 11 minutes when Darren Bent played Tom Ince in following a break lead by Craig Forsyth but Ince could only tamely shoot straight at keeper Ali Al Habsi.

Without ever really threatening in the first quarter hour the hosts forced five corners which tested the new look Rams back line. All were coped with competently if not always comfortably.

It was truly a dull and lifeless first half – we struggled to make any impact upon the Wigan goal and the only real moment of note after the Tom Ince chance was a great save from Lee Grant as the game moved beyond 35 minutes keeping out a McLean header.

The talismanic Chris Martin replaced Jamie Ward at half time who, like most other Rams, had had a very quiet first half.

There was a feeling of being back on the right track when a couple of minutes into ths second half we saw our first Chrissy Martin “wardrobe” free kick. – How we have missed those….

Joy two minutes later as Chris Martin started and finished a move with the assistance of Johnny Russell, the lively Scot finding Martin with a precise pass from the edge of the area which Martin put away with a clinical finish to put the Rams 1-0 up and send the 4,000 plus Rams fans into loud raptures of delight.

Without wishing to labour the point there was such a change of mood and performance as soon as Chris Martin was back on the pitch.

We have sorely lacked leadership on the pitch and this is something that Martin gives us, of all our players he appears to be the one with the greatest will to win.

Steve McLaren spoke after the game about Martin having 45 minutes in him today. For our prospects for the rest of the season it is to be hoped his journey back to full match fitness is rapid.

The crucial second goal came for the Rams on 81 minutes with a move started by Will Hughes and again involving Johnny Russell, the chance fell to Chris Martin who missed his attempt but Darren Bent was on the spot to fire in his ninth goal of his loan spell.

Lee Grant rounded off his excellent game making another vital save, this time from Kim-Bo Kyung as we moved into five minutes of injury time.

One downside of today was Will Hughes’ 10th booking of the season which will see him miss the games against Brentford and Blackpool.

As good a player as he is, and by god he is, it is frustrating that so many of Will’s bookings are silly niggly ones – just as today’s was.

Yet more changes in the leadership of the league that no-one wants to win as the leaders coming into today, Middlesbrough, were beaten 2-0 at Watford and dropped back to 4th allowing Bournemouth to return to the top with a 4-2 win against Birmingham.

Norwich City rose into the second automatic spot with a 2-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday.

The automatic places may seem a long shot for us now but we have a real opportunity to push on with the two home games coming up against Brentford and Blackpool.

We have already seen this season what a good and resilient team Brentford are but this is crunch time now and the early kick off on Saturday is our chance to build on the excellent second half performance today.

Played GD Pts
1. AFC Bournemouth 41 +44 77
2. Norwich City 41 +36 76
3. Watford 41 +34 76
4. Middlesbrough 41 +28 75
5. Derby County 41 +28 71
6. Brentford 41 +15 70

3rd April – Shaky Rams let it slip against 10 man Hornets

04 Saturday Apr 2015

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3rd April

Derby County       2        Darren Bent (pen) 45, Tom Ince 57

Watford                2        Matej Vydra 23, Marco Motta sent off 44, Odion Ighalo 75

The Rams winless streak stretched to seven games after a frustrating night at the iPro.

Down to an opportunistic goal after another defensive error, the Rams hit back to take the lead through a Darren Bent penalty and a fine finish from Tom Ince.

Yet again though Derby failed to close the game out despite the visitors being down to ten men, Watford equalising with a quarter of an hour to go.

Thanks to wins for Wolves and Brentford earlier in the day we kicked off in eighth place and out of the playoffs for the first time since September.

The only real consolation for me as I left the ground last night was that the point we gained lifted us back up into the top six but that feels like scant consolation indeed.

Uncertainty over the team sheet added hung over this game – it was great to see George Thorne back in the starting eleven the presence of Chris Martin on the bench raised a few more questions – fit enough to play part of the game but not the 90 minutes ??.

The boost of seeing our midfield linchpin back in the side only lasted half an hour though as he was replaced by Jeff Hendrick and left the field a downcast figure.

As I write this there is no update as to the nature of any injury for Thorne but I did see him gingerly stretch his right thigh barely five minutes into the game so it would be no surprise were this to be a reoccurrence of his most recent injury.

Along with Thorne’s reintroduction into the team (with Jesse Lingard dropping to the bench) Raul Albentosa was replaced in central defence by Ryan Shotton in what looked like the regular “horses for courses” approach we seem to take to our defence with Shotton’s greater pace being preferred to negate Watford’s attacking threat presumably.

We started brightly keeping possession well as Watford seemed content to sit back. Will Hughes had another good game and seemed to be trying to push the team over the line through sheer force of will at times with Johnny Russell being as energetic as ever and proving a potential threat throughout, though his control was sometimes a little lacking. Richard Keogh also had a good game, looking to drive us forward regularly as well as keeping tabs on the dangerous Watford strikers.

We could (and should?) have been 2-0 up before Watford’s sucker punch of a goal Darren Bent having two decent chances both of which he did not quite connect with – one being created by a superbly worked short corner involving Tom Ince and George Thorne that Heurelho Gomes in the Hornets goal managed to keep out with his legs.

Another in a long sequence of avoidable defensive mistakes handed Watford a chance which Vydra took clinically on 23 minutes.

Cyrus Christie was heading away from goal with the ball but turned back towards our area and lost the ball. Even then we had a chance to deal with the threat but two weak tackles saw the ball at the dangerous Vydra’s feet and the ball was past Lee Grant in a heartbeat.

Will Hughes flashed a shot just wide in response but just before half time a superb ball from Tom Ince gave the Rams a chance to square the game finding Johnny Russell in the Hornets area.

Russell was brought down by Marco Motta and it was no surprise to see a penalty awarded and the Italian defender sent off.

Darren Bent’s penalty was emphatic and we were going in at the break with a great chance to give our season some renewed impetus.

The substitution of Cyrus Christie at half time saw the introduction of Jesse Lingard as well as giving Jeff Hendrick a chance to brush up on his right wing back experience.

The Rams started at pace and forced a number of corners. A lovely piece of skill from Tom Ince put us ahead just before the hour, finding space in the area and curling in a sweet left foot shot.

The Rams were ahead, the large crowd was loud and boisterous and the game was there for the taking but as has so often been the case we seemed to stop pressing forward, stop taking the initiative and increasingly Watford had more of the ball and did not necessarily look like they were one player down.

Troy Deeney was a constant threat throughout keeping our defenders busy but it was from the flanks again that we conceded the deflating equaliser. We did not clear our lines and the ball came back enabling Odion Ighalo to finish from a Guediora pass with a quarter of an hour to go.

This was the signal for the return of Chris Martin as we desperately pushed for a winner. In his limited time on the pitch it was clear to see how much we had missed our centre forward, his link up play immediately giving us momentum. He also played a superb ball that released Darren Bent into the area but he was unable to finish Gomes again saving his strike.

There was no lack of effort from the Rams in the search for a winner but apart from that saved Darren Bent effort, a Richard Keogh header clawed away by Gomes and a last gasp scramble in the area we could not regain the lead. Another winning position at the iPro had been let slip.

We play with a lack of confidence that leaks off the players and our defence is unrecognisable from that which kept six consecutive clean sheets earlier in the season.

We must get a win, any kind of win from our visit to Wigan on Monday to halt this damaging run of form and start rebuilding the fragile confidence of the team.

Played GD Pts
1. Middlesbrough 40 +30 75
2. AFC Bournemouth 40 +42 74
3. Norwich City 40 +34 73
4. Watford 40 +32 73
5. Brentford 40 +15 69
6. Derby County 40 +26 68

31st January – On song Rams give Cardiff the blues

01 Sunday Feb 2015

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31st January

Cardiff City                    0           

Derby County                2         Scott Malone (o.g.) 23, Chris Martin 45 

      

Having seen both Bournemouth and Middlesbrough win before we kicked off this was an important three points for the Rams to bring home from the Welsh capital.

Remembering back to the summer the Bluebirds were seen as being one of our key competitors for promotion this season. Despite the Premier League parachute payment though, the Welsh team have struggled back in the second tier and in this game looked like the mid table team that they are.

Games still need to be won, however, and this was a pleasing performance by Derby to do so, backed by a loud and raucous following of travelling fans. 

No changes were made to the team that beat Blackburn though a hamstring injury suffered by Raul Albentosa in training kept him off the bench being replaced by his countryman Ivan Calero.

The Rams started brightly, keeping the ball well and moving it around quickly which is always an obvious sign of the mood and confidence of the team.

We got the benefit of an early penalty as Martin went down during a corner for the Rams when the ball was pinging around the Cardiff area – as penalties went it was on the soft side, had it gone against us I would not have been happy.

Chris Martin missed the spot kick though putting his attempt too close to the keeper allowing Simon Moore to push it away. 

This team of ours has resilience though, evidenced by the response to that disappointing (to say the least) Forest defeat – two wins and two clean sheets coming in to this game – and also overcoming the missed penalty.

Both Simon Dawkins and Jamie Ward were playing well , both probably benefitting from more match time and it was Ward that received the ball in the 22nd minute following a lovely intricate move involving Hughes ,Hendrick and Martin, and his beautifully judged ball led to Scott Malone diverting past his own keeper for an own goal.

The home team were not offering much by way of a threat at all though Lee Grant and Jake Buxton gave the loud and bouncing Rams contingent a fright on 35 minutes by almost leaving a ball to each other as it was played through.

That was one of the last acts in this game for our rugged centre half as Buxton turned his ankle shortly afterwards and the normally indestructible Buckobauer was forced off after trying to run it off.

A shuffle of the defence ensued with Cyrus Christie coming on and Ryan Shotton moving across and Christie was instrumental in a perfectly timed second goal just before the break.

Another sweet passing move involving Jeff Hendrick, Chris Martin, Craig Forsyth & Will Hughes freed up Christie on the flank and he put in a superb deep cross that Martin connected with, thundering a header in to the top of the net to make it 2-0.

It had been an excellent first half performance, that second goal importantly emphasising our dominance and putting Cardiff in a very difficult position.

The second half started steadily with few opportunities at either end. After a sprightly first half Dawkins limped off on the hour to be replaced by Mason Bennett and it is to be hoped that his comeback to the team is not to be interrupted again, particularly considering our shortage of options in the wide areas of the team.

Cardiff bought on Kenwyn Jones just after the hour and he had barely been on the pitch a couple of minutes before his header brought out a great save from Lee Grant. Our keeper is having an excellent season and in the last couple of weeks alone he has made superb saves in games where he has not had much to do, always a good sign of keeping focus.

The closest we came to a third goal was when a characteristic pass from Hughes released Bennett in the area but a poor bounce held the ball up allowing keeper to make a save.

Three important points then with a comfortable win though it was interesting to hear Steve McClaren’s expressing his disappointment that we did not kick on in the second half – high standards in our coaching staff bodes well for the rest of the season.

The end of January sees us 2nd with 54 points from 28 games played.

This time last year Leicester City were at the top of the table with 66 points from one more game – QPR second with 56pts from 28 games.

With no team as far ahead as Leicester this year it is a fair bet that 90pts will secure automatic promotion – 36 more points then in our last 18 games.

Those games will start count down before we know it so wins like today are crucial and very welcome.