Tag Archives: Simon Dawkins

18th April – No defence as Rams take a point in eight goal shootout

19 Sunday Apr 2015

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18th April

Huddersfield Town   4      Gobern 38, Hudson 41, James 45+2, Wells 72

Derby County           4       Ince 16,79,  Dawkins 52, Lingard 61

It’s never easy being a Rams fan is it?

The Rams travelled to sunny Yorkshire on a four game unbeaten run with hopes of consolidating a play off spot against a Huddersfield team drifting in the safe waters of lower mid table.

Straightforward game? Not a chance.

After taking the lead with a Tom Ince cracker some appalling amateurish defending in the first half saw us go in 1-3 down.

We hauled ourselves back to 3-3 only to gift the Terriers yet another goal which required another Tom Ince rescue mission to save a point.

The game was littered with injuries for the Rams, Craig Bryson, Zak Whitbread and Will Hughes being forced off at various points in the game – exactly what we do not need considering our injury problems this season.

Before we knew about the mayhem that would unfold Steve McClaren kept us on our toes by naming an unchanged back four with Shotton, Keogh, Whitbread & Warnock continuing.

Not that circumstance allowed us to keep that unit together for long with Zak Whitbread being forced off with injury after 27 minutes at which point the roof fell in for the rest of the first half.

Midfield saw a change with Will Hughes returning after suspension with Simon Dawkins making way and dropping down to the bench.

I was surprised at this as Dawks has played well on Tuesday against, the admittedly limited, Blackpool, looking composed on the ball.

No sign of Chris Martin in the match day squad suggesting that the “setback” mentioned on Tuesday night could be as serious as we had feared.

Missing also from the 18 was Raul Albentosa who has been selected intermittently after the long wait to see him in the team.

We worked very hard to sign the big Spanish defender and apparently spend a lot of effort planning our signings but things have not gone well which makes you wonder what is going on in the background, especially considering our need for defensive leadership is desperate.

Any debates about the rights and wrongs of Simon Dawkins being left out were soon neutralised as Craig Bryson was on the receiving end of a heavy Joel Lynch tackle on five minutes that ended his participation, Dawkins replacing him and having another good game.

The Rams started steadily, looking composed and Tom Ince gave us the lead with a belting shot from distance that arrowed into the top corner on 16 minutes. We looked comfortable and while not in control, certainly in a good position.

Everything went rapidly downhill when Zak Whitbread fell awkwardly after a coming together with the always physical Ishmael Miller and had to be substituted immediately with Cyrus Christie coming on at right back and Ryan Shotton moving to centre half.

Zak Whitbread has always looked a good player to me but whether he can stay healthy enough to be the calm head we need in that back four is a question – no report yet on his injury from this game but we have looked better with him playing – and looked chaotic without him yesterday.

We conceded three awful goals in eight minutes towards the end of the half and it was not only the number of goals that we let in but the manner of the surrender that was alarming.

Possession lost by the desperately shaky Cyrus Christie lead to goal one, an unchallenged header from a corner lead to goal two and a corner allowed directly into the net saw us go in 3-1 down at the half to a, no disrespect intended, middling team with nothing to play for.

The defence was yet again playing like strangers and with no confidence or structure – it is really shocking and disappointing to see and talk of promotion with displays at the back like this sounds delusional.

The second half showed no immediate improvement as Nakhi Wells should really have put the hosts 4-1 up as he went clear on our goal with only Lee Grant to beat. He only managed to catch Grant squarely in the face with his effort the ball going out for a corner.

And then just when hope was disappearing Simon Dawkins got himself on the end of a Stephen Warnock cross to bring us back into the game at 2-3 and suddenly the mood changed.

Dawkins having an excellent game contributed to the (first) equaliser helping to pull us back level at 3-3 laying off for Jesse Lingard who put away his second goal for the Rams since joining on loan.

A chance then for us to push on and win a vital 3pts ?……..not with the way our defence is playing.

Ryan Shotton gave the ball away under no pressure, Sean Scannell skinned Stephen Warnock again and from the ensuing melee the ball was bundled into the net for the hosts to take the lead again 4-3.

One final twist thanks to Tom Ince coolly putting away his second goal of the game and his tenth since joining us to bring it back again to 4-4 and at that point the scoring madness ended….though not before we played with fire at the back again and the Terriers had an offside winner ruled out.

Steve McClaren sounded either tired or disengaged in his post match interview – seemingly at a loss as to what to do and musing about taking the players away for a warm weather break this week to gee up team spirit.

Personally rather than catching planes and coaches here and there I’d be happier to hear about some focused work together at Moor Farm for the week to up the team spirit and get us ready for the last two games of the regular season.

We’re hanging on to our play off spot but it feels like by our fingertips at the moment.

Played GD Pts
1. Watford 44 +39 85
2. AFC Bournemouth 44 +47 84
3. Middlesbrough 44 +32 84
4. Norwich City 44 +38 82
5. Derby County 44 +32 76
6. Ipswich Town 44 +18 75
7. Brentford 44 +14 72
8. Wolves 44 +11 72

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.

 

28th October – High Fives as Rams hit back against Kit-men

02 Sunday Nov 2014

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28th October

 Fulham       2                                                    Derby County      5

 Moussa Dembele 27,45                                    Chris Martin 45 (pen)

                                                                          Johnny Russell 47

                                                                          Simon Dawkins 54, 65

                                                                          Jeff Hendrick 62

What’s the phrase ? …..game of……game of two…..that’s it ! …..game of two halves.

 Rarely has the well worn phrase seemed so fitting as the Rams endured a nervy and disjointed first half only to come out for the second half of this League Cup 4th round tie at Craven Cottage and blow Fulham away with a performance of verve and tempo.

Changes ahoy for this game as in came Kelle Roos for the cup tied Jack Butland, Jake Buxton returned to the team after injury replacing Zak Whitbread and Omar Mascarell, Jeff Hendrick and Simon Dawkins replaced John Eustace, Will Hughes & Jordan Ibe.

Fulham made eight changes to their team, something that caused a certain amount of disgruntlement amongst their fans online afterwards, but it did not seem to be causing them any problems as they put the Rams under pressure from the first whistle.

No surprise that the word has got around – squeezing our midfield and pressuring our attempts to play out from the back seems to be the go-to tactic for causing us problems. Fulham certainly seem to have paid attention to the game last Saturday as they started with energy and purpose and put us under pressure.

We did not cope well with the pressure and Kelle Roos made a good early save from Dembele but he was left with no chance as Craig Forsyth played a blind back pass straight to Dembele who put Fulham ahead.

Fozzy has had a few games now where he has only shown flashes of his attacking potential and has looked shaky defensively – whether he can pull out of this dip quickly will be important as he offers the Rams a lot when he is on form.

Bad got worse quickly as Omar Mascarell accepted the ball from Roos but was surrounded by two Fulham players who knicked the ball off his toe and a moment later Dembele was on a hat-trick and we were 2-0 down.

While our play improved during the half we were still not exhibiting the kind of play we have grown accustomed to and prospects did not look good…..then with the first half coming to an end Fulham’s Tim Hoogland handballed a Mascarell free kick and Derby were awarded one of the more obvious penalties of the season which Chris Martin smashed away with feeling.

For all that the first half was troubling the second half was terrific as the Rams shot out of the blocks with pace and energy and were on terms within minutes as Johnny Russell finished a fine move, Simon Dawkins scored a peach of a goal firing into the top corner after great play from Martin & Bryson, Jeff Hendrick fired in a fourth from close range and as the cherry on the cake Simon Dawkins backheeled in the fifth before twenty minutes of the second half had elapsed.

The return of a fit again Simon Dawkins in the last game and a half has shown just why the management rate him so highly and if he can add regular goals to his game he is a potent threat.

 

Fulham had a young side that clearly tired but that should not detract too much from a fantastic second half performance from the Rams.