Having stabilised their away performances with two drawn games, Derby County had a midweek chance to turn their home form around before a crucial trip to Bramall Lane, Sheffield.
Though the Rams had chased Blackpool defender Rob Edwards for a month or more, manager Nigel Clough acknowledged that the player had opted to join promotion-chasing Norwich City instead. It’s another example of a player preferring a club in the top six as opposed to pitching in to Derby’s battle for survival.
Manager Clough had further frustration at the start of the week because Preston striker Paul Hayes would not join the Rams on loan until after Derby’s Tuesday home game with Hull City, if at all.
Millwall’s Birmingham-born homesick forward Theo Robinson was a surprise signing instead and he went into the squad to face Hull City on Tuesday.
Clough also elected to sign 35 year-old out-of-contract striker Michael Boulding for the remainder of the season. He’d trialled with the Rams’ reserves and scored, so he’s probably been grabbed as a replacement for the late lamented Rob Hulse.
After that game, Clough was then awaiting fitness news on full-back Gareth Roberts before deciding on whether to seek another forward, or take some defensive loan cover instead.
Having lost stand-in goalkeeper Saul Deeney to a serious shoulder injury on the eve of the home game with Hull city on Tuesday, manager Clough could have done with some luck, but didn’t get any. He lost Roberts through injury during the 0-1 home defeat to the Tigers but the more problematic occurrence in that game was the injury to goalkeeper Stephen Bywater.
He was in discomfort with a rib muscle strain from the early stages, having cleared the ball in a typically wayward fashion, seeming to put his back out in the process. It became pantomine thereafter with Bywater never confident about catching, kicking or clearing and leaving upfield kicks to defenders.
Derby had a bright first half and should have taken a lead through either the busy, darting Ward or the other impressive debutant, defender Daniel Ayala. He has a strong game partnering Shaun Barker and will give fans heart that the defence should be harder to penetrate with him in the centre.
Clough left Bywater on until the break, and Derby’s defenders had protected him well as the Rams looked the better side. Then, farcically, play was stopped immediately upon the restart as Bywater signalled to the bench for rookie James Severn to replace him. As with Saul Deeney’s debut, Severn’s first appearance will be remembered for the wrong reasons.
Deeney got himself sent off after replacing the injured Bywater and Robbie Savage had to deputise in a defeat to Reading; Severn got totally lost at a vital time when a 71st minute Hull corner was delivered to the back post, where Anthony Gerrard put it home unchallenged for the winning goal.
The cruel twist for Derby’s goalkeepers and the unfair result reminded everyone that bad luck follows struggling teams around. Severn did most other things competently during the rest of the game and his distribution and clearances were tidier than Bywater (that’s not difficult, however) - but his debut will be remembered for the wrong reasons.
Knowing Bywater had to retire, the fans hoped that the junior keeper could hold his own but it wasn’t to be. Severn failed to command his area when most necessary; though he is an England Under-20 goalkeeper, his nervous inexperience was exposed and his error cost Derby the game.
Derby didn’t deserve to lose, but the Tigers - seemingly in financial turmoil and plummeting downwards rapidly after being relegated from the Premier League - have regrouped and also invested strongly. Money spent on their squad has banished worries of a survival struggle and the win at Derby meant they had lost only once in the last 19 games.
It was Hull’s first win at Derby for 43 years; they look to be heading for the promotion play-offs, whilst Derby merely aims to surface somewhere near mid-table yet again. Nothing less than similarly spirited, determined performances from Derby between now until May 7th will suffice, if Derby are to salvage their season.
The Hull game was a stepping stone for Derby, a performance with plenty of heart and (mercifully) a little more discipline and craft than many of the inept performances that have preceded it - but Derby are still moored in the murky waters of lower mid-table and need victories more than mere promise. Any inept performances will see them slip and in all likelihood be up to their neck in cold relegation waters.
A crunch match with Micky Adams’ similarly-desperate Sheffield United side now beckoned for Clough and his men, with defeat against a team on an even worse run than Derby being unthinkable.
With Bywater out for a few weeks, the inexperienced Deeney out until next season and Severn out of his depth, fans at least had good news on Friday because Blackburn’s Frank Fielding rejoined the Rams on loan for the rest of the season. Junior keeper Ross Atkins was also recalled from his loan at Tamworth.
Fielding’s ability and presence was a significant factor in Derby’s good form early in the season when Bywater was sidelined with a wrist injury. Frank’s distribution was also streets ahead of Bywater, and many fans (me included) would like to see Fielding stay in the team for the rest of the season then recruited on a permanent basis if possible.
The last day of the Championship campaign has been rearranged in consultation with the Football League and television companies. It’s now been brought forward one day to Saturday, 7th May. The Rams play at Reading on that day; the kick-off for all the final-day games has been moved from 3.00 pm to 12.45 pm.
As if Rams fans hadn’t had quite enough of fraud and deception in the ownership maze, one of the GSE partners was eliminated from the investment group after a recent judgement of his financial malpractices by the USA regulators, FINRA.
Jeffrey Martinovich has been banned from managing investments for life after it was found he had deceived clients about his shareholding in the Rams. His hedge fund, MICG Investment Management LLC has been closed down. He had lied to clients about the value of their stake in the club and used those inflated valuations to charge them excessive management fees.
Martinovich was described by DCFC as a ‘minor shareholder’ and was not on the Rams’ board of directors; his exclusion, they said, will not affect the running of the club. If his exclusion doesn’t affect GSE’s plans or the administration of DCFC at all, how come characters like that were ever part of the consortium in the first place?
Are his shares being reclaimed? Can they be sold to local supporters, or to Mr Gadsby to allow the reintroduction of a local stakeholding in the club? Are there any other surprises in store about the consortium?
Derby fans want honesty and transparency and a proper focus on football matters; they expect the custodians of the club to respect and honour the good name of Derby County - we’ve had a bellyful of incompetent people looking to use the club for personal gain.
Saturday saw the focus firmly back on football matters, with Championship survival top of the agenda. Fans of both clubs might reasonably have expected Derby County and Sheffield United to be battling for points in or around the top six of the Championship table at this stage of the season. Instead, both are in a desperate slump at the wrong end of the table.
The Rams had won just one game in the last 14; Mickey Adams failed to win any of his first 12 matches since taking over at Bramall Lane. Nigel Clough had to ring the changes due to availability and loanee arrivals.
Gareth Roberts’ injury meant that, with no full back cover, Brayford switched to the left and Paul Green became an emergency right-back again. Frank Fielding took over in goal and loanee Theo Robinson partnered Chris Porter up front. Jamie Ward, effective in everything he did on Tuesday against Hull except for putting the ball in the net when chances arose, couldn’t play against his parent club.
It was a typical basement scrap played out in front of 21,000 at Bramall Lane but Nigel Clough received some blessed relief with a precious 1-0 away win, courtesy of a 27th minute goal from loanee Theo Robinson. He scored from close in after Savage and Ayala returned the danger into the Blades’ 6-yard box, from a Ben Davies free kick that the United defence initially repelled.
Afterwards, Derby kicked, cleared and scraped away every assault that United could muster; it wasn’t pretty but it was effective, with the defenders heroic and everyone on the pitch battling for the cause.
Barker, Brayford and Ayala were excellent and the team worked hard all over the pitch to deny a Blades’ comeback.
The victory at Bramall Lane was a further stepping stone, an invitation for the team to build on a much-needed win and make further progress up the table. Derby haven’t turned the corner - it was a scrapping, gritty performance far removed from the flowing football of the autumn, but the Rams have perhaps found the right road signs on the route to recovery.
As has been stated many times, it is only graft and determination that will get you results in such a situation and with the belated influx of squad reinforcements, Derby can look to the task ahead with a little more confidence. Now, they must capitalise on their first win since New Year’s Day.
The gloom deepened for United boss Micky Adams but that’s not our worry; Derby moved a tad clearer of the Championship bottom three, with United’s fellow-strugglers Scunthorpe and bottom club Preston both losing as well.
Derby are 18th in the table, eight points clear ot the bottom three and have the opportunity to ease their worries with consecutive home games against Doncaster Rovers and Barnsley next week.
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RamsWeek 9 last year had a similar theme to this year’s diary, because an upturn in form seemed to mark ‘the turning point’.
However, missed chances against promotion contenders marked a turning point in the weekend clash with WBA and poor defending cost Derby the game.
They lost 3-1 at home to promotion-chasing West Bromwich Albion, having more than matched the Baggies and taken a lead through Paul Green. Derby couldn’t take advantage of other chances and instead, the leaky defence handed the Baggies the points in the end.
Loanee Gilles Sunu missed a golden chance to put Derby 2-0 up when they ruled the game; that was a turning point. Chris Brunt grabbed an equaliser, score a second later in the game and then Simon Cox sprang Derby’s excuse for an offside trap to wrap up the game late on.
There was also comprehensive media coverage about impending FA disciplinary charges after the on-field fracas in games with Forest and Swansea, whilst Derby took Wayne Rooney’s young brother John on trial.
Yet another ‘whatever happened to…’ contender, I’m afraid. Another loanee, another rookie, another disappearing body; you see ‘em come, you see ‘em go.