Tag Archives: Lee Grant

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

12th August – Cup of woe as Rams beaten and bowed by Pompey

12 Wednesday Aug 2015

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12th August

Portsmouth     2         Adam McGurk 49, Conor Chaplin 76

Derby County  1         Jason Shackell 73

A Rams team lacking in energy and urgency were deservedly beaten by League Two Portsmouth in the First Round of the League Cup.

The home team were consistently in our faces, more determined and recovered from the Rams equalising with 15 minutes to go to hit back almost immediately and score the winning goal.

There was no sense of injustice at this result as the home team bridged the two division gap between the teams with seeming ease.

Paul Clement made eight changes for this game, in came Lee Grant, Isak Ssewankambo (for his debut), Alex Pearce (another debut), Craig Forsyth, Jeff Hendrick, Andreas Weimann, Simon Dawkins and Darren Bent.

The Rams lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Chris Baird & Hendrick anchoring the midfield and Russell, Weimann and Dawkins in support of Bent.

Pompey managed by the former Chesterfield firecracker of a manager Paul Cook started well and former Burton Albion player Adam McGurk pulled a chance wide in the first quarter of an hour after some Rams confusion on the right of the defence.

The theme of the first half continued to be more Portsmouth energy and attack as the home team stayed on the front foot and looked for gaps.

The Derby players seemed to struggle to acquaint themselves with each other and were ponderous in comparison.

There were little glimpses of promise during the latter part of the half with Johnny Russell and Weimann causing problems for Portsmouth without creating any clear chances. The half dribbled to a close without further incident and a sense of us not really hitting our stride at all.

The second half started with a flicker of intent from Derby as Weimann again caused problems but soon after Jeff Hendrick lost possession too easily, and Pompey scored following an awful mistake from Lee Grant, who made a mess of header from McGurk.

The disappointing thing was that the lead was entirely deserved on the balance of play up to that point.

Two changes on the hour for the Rams trying to change things as Chris Martin and Tom Ince came on for Darren Bent and Simon Dawkins.

Bent, particularly, struggled to be an influence on the game but he doesn’t prosper as the lone striker; we saw that a number of times last season, so it was a puzzle to see him in that role again.

The final change for the Rams saw George Thorne join the game after 68 minutes, debutant Ssewankambo making way and skipper Baird dropping back to right back.

Within a minute Thorne had played the best pass of the night to get an attack moving and a further three minutes later the Rams were level as Jason Shackell rose highest at a corner to head home.

Thoughts of powering on to take the lead disappeared quickly as Conor Chaplin shot home and gave Pompey the lead again.

We huffed and puffed as the game drew to a close without ever coming close to scoring and in contrast to last season when we made it to the last eight we bow out of the Cup at the first hurdle.

Sure we made eight changes, but so did Portsmouth, so we should have done better.

Jeff Hendrick had a poor game, but like Darren Bent he was again playing in a position that he does not seem suited to. Johnny Russell’s work rate was as herculean as ever but we hardly created a chance all night which was a worry.

Alex Pearce looked a little slow , expect to see former skipper Richard Keogh back on Saturday and it is pretty safe to say that Scott Carson is a strong favourite to start in goal against Charlton.

George Thorne looked a class apart in his brief cameo and in him and Jason Shackell we have the makings of a strong spine to the team.

Surely it is disappointing to lose this game but to expect us to hit the ground running after a summer with such significant change was always hopeful rather realistic.

Interviewed after the game Paul Clement said he already knew his team for Saturday’s home game at the iPro – I think we can all have a pretty informed view of that 11 as well that will face up to Charlton where a home win would be very welcomed.

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

17th March – Injuries continue to bite as toothless Rams are bested by Boro

18 Wednesday Mar 2015

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17th March

Derby County     0             

Middlesbrough    1       Patrick Bamford 64

The winless run for the Rams now stretches to five games with this deflating defeat to well organised promotion rivals Middlesbrough; a defeat made all the more frustrating by identity of the goalscorer.

Particularly worrying to see was the complete lack of threat we posed in this game with (arguably) one clear cut chance created all night.

The continued absence of Chris Martin and Darren Bent is something we are not coping with at all and the Rams are suddenly 5pts away from the automatic promotion spots with only 8 games to go.

That one chance fell to substitute Jesse Lingard late on and with little time to steady himself he flashed his shot wide.

Indeed we did not force goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopoulos into one meaningful save all game and as the night wore on we may have huffed and puffed but it never looked likely that we would score.

There were two changes for Derby from the team that took a battling point away from Carrow Road on Saturday. Cyrus Christie and Craig Bryson were selected replacing Ryan Shotton and Jeff Hendrick.

There was no return to the match day squad for George Thorne though despite Paul Simpson’s pre match interview suggesting that the Rams would give the influential midfielder every chance to be involved, including the alarming comments about “taking a risk” on him if we had to .

This left me conflicted as to whether I was disappointed he was still missing or pleased we weren’t taking a gamble on him.

His absence meant a home debut for Jamie Hanson who again acquitted himself very well, combative in the tackle and neat and organised in his passing.

He is looking an incredibly mature player for his age and a hell of a prospect for us, though it is a big ask to be throwing him into the business end of a promotion battle against two of our rivals.

Injuries to the three players we would be selecting in front of Hanson though have left the Rams with few other options.

The game started steadily, the Rams pushing Boro back but without threatening in front of yet another 30,000 + crowd.

I was getting a little déjà vu from that awful refereeing performance in the Birmingham game as Andy D’Urso made a few idiosyncratic decisions early on but that was forgotten as a superb whipped cross from Cyrus Christie so nearly found Jamie Ward sliding in at the far post.

This was almost immediately followed by a superb double save from Lee Grant as Boro showed what they were capable of.

I found myself thinking we might have a bit of luck on our side when, later in the half, Granty shanked a clearance straight to Jelle Vossen who lobbed the ball back toward the empty net only for it to bounce off the post back into the grateful Grant’s grasp.

Johnny Russell again had the thankless task of leading the line as the central striker but despite his endless work and application he had little to work with as time and time again he was fighting for balls better suited to Andy Carroll than a player of his stature.

There were flashes of creativity and intent from us in the first half, a lovely pass from Jamie Ward nearly putting Tom Ince in after half an hour and a lovely move involving Richard Keogh, Tom Ince and Cyrus Christie almost unlocking the defence.

As the first half ended I optimistically thought that we could nick this with a little bit of magic from either Will Hughes or Tom Ince but we never seemed to get started in a second half that started in a haphazard way with injuries to Vossen and Grant Leadbitter interrupting play.

Johnny Russell snatched at a half chance just before the hour, pulling his shot wide of goal and shortly afterwards the sense that Boro had been holding us off waiting for their chance became all too apparent.

The Rams gifted possession to Lee Tomlin who played in Patrick Bamford superbly, and with a crushing sense of inevitability the on loan Chelsea striker evaded Lee Grant and slid the ball into the net.

We never looked like rescuing the game when we fell behind. Jeff Hendrick, Jesse Lingard and Kwame Thomas were thrown on, Raul Albentosa played increasingly as an emergency striker but Middlesbrough kept us at bay with ease, I’m afraid to say to take a vital three points and hold on to 2nd place.

Realistically we have moved from one of the favourites for automatic promotion to outsiders with that 5 point gap opening up.

It would be foolish to say that we have seen the last of the myriad twists and turns that the Championship has served up so far but our form is poor, our confidence is low and we are missing key players.

If we are to wrest back some initiative and control over our destiny this season a win at Molineaux is a must on Friday night – to do that under the current circumstances would be impressive and so very welcomed.

Played GD Pts
1. Watford 38 +33 72
2. Middlesbrough 38 +32 72
3. AFC Bournemouth 38 +39 70
4. Norwich City 38 +31 67
5. Derby County 38 +28 67
6. Brentford 38 +12 65

14th March – Rams dig deep for crucial point as Bruiser takes a bow

14 Saturday Mar 2015

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14th March

Norwich City     1          Cameron Jerome 31

Derby County    1          John Ruddy (o.g.) 66

Sometimes a point is a bitter disappointment.

Last Saturday, for instance.

Sometime a point is a terrific result.

Today, for instance.

On the back of three disappointing results and visiting the division’s form team with a squad diminished by injury the Rams did very well to take a point, a point that may just be crucial come the season’s end.

Pre game discussion inevitably centred upon Jamie Hanson’s first team debut, one of two changes to the team that played Birmingham last week.

A Friday training injury to Omar Mascarell enabled the impressive academy player to step into the defensive midfield position that is so important to our style of play.

And how well he played in such a crucial game. Initially the Norwich midfield dominated but as the game went on Hanson got more involved and showed he is a player of poise and promise.

Talk in the week of either or both of George Thorne and Chris Martin being involved in some way proved not to be the case and what once felt like a deep squad is starting to look skimpy as injuries take their toll.

Our other change was a swap with Ryan Shotton coming in at right back for Cyrus Christie, a change happening increasingly regularly for away games, presumably for greater defensive solidity offered by the former Stoke City defender.

The hosts dominated possession in the early periods of the game without creating any clear cut chances and the Rams worked hard with players tracking back. There were notable defensive interventions from both Johnny Russell and Jamie Ward.

Rams had a spell of greater possession from 25 minutes or so in with Hughes and Ward featuring and looking to create something. Our only decent attempt on goal at this time came with a Will Hughes shot going over.

Just as it felt as if we had subdued the hosts, Cameron Jerome gave them the lead on 31 mins after Hoolohan and Olsson combined well to get behind our line and set up the big striker for a tap in.

Good work by Johnny Russell after a quickly taken free kick on 40 minutes almost created a chance for the Rams, the opportunity just failing for the lack of someone to tap the ball in, the hosts clearing away from danger.

With results in other games going against us we needed a big second half and the Rams started promisingly, again without really creating any clear cut chances, but nearly were authors of our own downfall in giving away a needless corner on 55 minutes after a phase of messing around with the ball in defence.

Jamie Hanson lived up to his nickname of “bruiser” after a clash of heads with Alexander Tetty left the Norwich man prone on the turf and gained the debutant a Terry Butcher tribute head bandage.

It was our debutant that created our equaliser from an unexpected source, John Ruddy turned around a Tom Ince shot round for a corner. Jamie Hanson’s corner was then bundled into the net by Ruddy to bring us level. The credit for the goal may go to the Norwich keeper but in spirit this was a debut goal for Hanson.

Johnny Russell worked as hard as ever throughout the game, proving to be a nuisance, he struggled to find threatening positions with the ball but his work rate off the ball was as terrific as ever and he kept the Canaries defence occupied throughout.

Jamie Ward was similarly hard working and committed and it is good to see him getting back to his early season form.

Until they started lumping the ball forward towards the end of the game the Canaries were subdued for much of the second half and credit to the Rams for that. However it took a superb save from Lee Grant, keeping out a Jerome free header from no more than six yards, followed up by great save even later in the game from a shot from Norwich substitute Gary Hooper to preserve this point.

This was a good gritty and pleasing performance from the Rams in the second half, disciplined and organised.

As if we did not have enough injuries to worry about Johnny Russell took a kick to the face from the already booked Russell Martin that left blood splattered all over his face and questions being asked about why his Scottish international team mate did not get his marching orders.

Steve McClaren mused afterwards that JR has a broken nose so we can look forward to another outing for the phantom of the opera mask soon.

Raul Albentosa is looking increasingly at home and made a crucial tackle to stop Gary Hooper late on – the defensive strength we so crave could well be resting on his shoulders.

This Norwich team has by far the strongest squad at its disposal in this league and have easily been the best team I’ve seen at the iPro this season, so for us to emerge from Carrow Road with a point is a big boost at a time of the season when both the injuries and the worries have been piling up.

Played GD Pts
1. AFC Bournemouth 37 +39 69
2. Watford 37 +31 69
3. Middlesbrough 37 +31 69
4. Derby County 37 +29 67
5. Norwich City 37 +31 66
6. Brentford 37 +11 62

       

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.

 

13th December – Boro add to Rams away day blues as Bamford proves a point

14 Sunday Dec 2014

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13th December – Boro add to Rams away day blues as Bamford proves a point

 

Middlesbrough             2                 Derby County               0

Patrick Bamford 6                             Ryan Shotton sent off 62

Grant Leadbitter 63 (pen)

Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka became the second manager in short order to praise Derby County as the best team in the league immediately after his own team had just easily beaten us 2-0.

Like Neil Redfearn after Leeds had turned us over Jose Mourinho’s former assistant praised the Rams while basking in a well deserved win that knocked us off the top of the league in a morning kick off that did not get the weekend off to a flying start.

We were poor in this game, poor in so many areas and got exactly what we deserved from a vigorous and committed Boro. Of the players in the white shirts only Lee Grant and Johnny Russell can come out with any credit at all.

The fit again skipper Richard Keogh returned to the team with Jake Buxton dropping to the bench. Bucko gave a confident performance against an admittedly poor Brighton team last week and was a little unlucky to step down. Whether he would have made any difference to this defeat is unlikely though as we were being outgunned in all areas of the pitch throughout.

Much of the media coverage in the lead up to this game featured Patrick Bamford. He is an interesting footballer and not apparently victim to periods of crushing self doubt.

It was illuminating to read some of his comments after this game, referring to wanting to prove to us that he was not a “softy”, comments that shed just a little more light on why he was suited up in a red shirt for this game rather than a white one.

Despite his goals for us last season Bamford was always a player that generated lukewarm affection at best. Maybe this was an understandable hangover from his Forest roots, maybe because sometimes he appeared less than truly committed to the team ethic, whatever the reason it was not a total surprise to see him rock up at Middlesbrough rather than back at Derby as the season began though this may have had as much to do with our unwillingness to play him in his preferred central striking position rather than out wide.

He was certainly on a mission, scoring while criminally unmarked in our penalty area after only 6 minutes and then drawing a foul from last man Ryan Shotton as he prepared to fire on goal in the 63rd minute, leading to the defender’s dismissal and Grant Leadbitter’s goal from the spot.

Were it not for some fine saves from Lee Grant we could have been hammered 3-0, 4-0 in this game and apart from a tame Jeff Hendrick effort after some good Johnny Russell work in the first half and an excellent save from a Craig Bryson shot as the game drew to a close we never really worried the hosts.

They surrendered the ball and pressed us keeping players behind the ball – this is something we do not seem to be able to cope with and teams will increasingly exploit this weakness if we do not solve it quick sharp.

 Steve McClaren rolled the dice at half time throwing on Leon Best as well as Jordan Ibe but the big loanee from Blackburn had minimal effect in the new formation as Boro continued to control and dominate us.

The last time we won at Boro, 15th January 2000 when Malcolm Christie scored twice in a 4-1 win. My abiding memory of that game is the Radio Derby interview with Jim Smith where he as much as admits that he had intended to select Marvin Robinson but picked Malcolm accidentally…..

Eight defeats and one solitary draw in our visits to the Riverside since that win make it one of the most miserable of away visits, curious considering that the Riverside and Pride Park are identical you would imagine we would at least feel at home.

Four defeats in our last eight games leaves an uneasy feeling, as does seeing us drop from top to third because of this defeat. A joust with the best team in the Premiership next as Chelsea come to town for the quarter final of the league cup and then a very important game (aren’t they all?) against Norwich City next Saturday lunchtime.

Not much time then for the coaching staff to try and put things right as the hectic Christmas schedule hoves into view, there is lots to play for and we have some thinking to do….