Forest came to the iPro out of form and seemingly ready for the slaughter. The first half seemed as if that would be the case, in the second they turned the tables and made Derby look like a team in the bottom 3 rather than top 2.
With Ibe on his way back to Anfield - Ward was back in, as was Bryson with the Rams looking to continue their fantastic recent run against their greatest foe.
From the outset Derby were in the Reds face as they out-attacked, out-passed and overall outplayed the visitors.
Unfortunately, as has been the case many times this season, dominance did not result in goals as Bryson, Russell, Hughes and Ward all went close but not close enough.
Forest were creating minor chances at the other end, usually trying to get on the end of a long ball but Grant had little to worry about it. On another day the ref may have pinged Buxton for a penalty for some wrestling in the box, but today was not that day.
Instead a corner from Russell found Forest defender Lansbury in acres of space, untroubled by a Rams attacker, so he decided to expertly head it into the net for Derby. Yes I am sure he intended to head it out for a corner but such was the perfect placement of the header, a neutral watcher may have thought for a second that he was a Forest striker at the correct end of the iPro.
1-0
With McClaren left considering a move for Lansbury in the transfer market as a backup striker — the Rams went on their merry way dominating play with little result to show for it.
Martin came very close to feeding a free Johnny Russell and Russell himself nearly benefited from a mistake by Forest in the box.
In the end just as the half looked like fading out — it was Forest who came closest to troubling the scorer in injury time as Assombalonga shot only inches over the bar with a quality strike.
Half over, Rams ahead and Forest finally finding a goal scorer… unfortunately not one they would have wanted.
HT: 1-0
Hughes limped his way to the end of the first half and at the start of the second it was Hendrick who came on to replace him.
The second half opened brightly again for the Rams as they continued their tireless running and attacking intent but once again the cherry was eluding the top of the cake.
Cyrus Christie let fly with a rocket from outside of the box that went agonisingly wide as the Rams continued to push forward.
Forest found some fight soon after and some repeated attacks resulted in a mad scramble in the box that nearly resulted in an equaliser after Grant was impeded in the box. Luckily a Rams player got his rump in the way of the shot and saved the day with an open goal beckoning.
Derby tried to turn the flow around but they could not as Forest continually got forward and pressed them back. The Rams were being caught flat footed and looking likely to concede sooner rather than later and concede they did.
The Rams failed to clear as another ball caused chaos in their box and Assombalonga was able to poke it home on 75 minutes.
1-1
The Rams looked as if they may raise some fight in the closing stages but a few minutes that seemed to be turning the tide was suddenly snuffed out as Forest once again wrestled control from a Derby team who looked like they wanted it less.
Just when hanging on for a draw seemed like the best option, as we ticked into stoppage time huge gaps in midfield were opening up and allowed the Reds to charge forward.
The dagger came in the form of Derby born Osborn who ran and ran and ran as Keogh backed off and backed off and backed off. With lots of room, Osborn unleashed a stunning strike that flashed past Keogh and a diving Grant behind him.
1-2
Never have we ever missed Eustace more… Osborn would have been eating turf if John had been in the vicinity. But Eustace was not there and no longer were the points.
FT: 0-1
Hearts broken, a terrible second half, a Derby team that looked worse than average in the final 45 and 3 points thrown away, when every point from is precious if top 2 is going to be achieved.
When Forest stepped up the pressure - too many Rams went missing — not something you say very often but they did.
With Mascarell unable to assert himself on the game, especially when it had turned against his team, Bryson and Martin unusually quiet and some defending that harked back to a couple of years ago, when it felt like every set piece was a door to disaster.
Plus you have to wonder why McClaren didn’t use his last sub to inject some fresh legs when his chargers looked out on their feet — especially with the youthful energy of Calero & Bennett on the bench. I don’t like to question the great man but Bent on for Ward and then not utilising the third change seemed odd.
Get well soon John Eustace, get fit soon George Thorne, lace up your boots Warnock and Albentosa… something tells me you may get your chance very soon.
God that felt awful, as awful as Ryan Weston will have been feeling watching it at the iPro. If he can suppress that sick feeling for long enough to write a report — we will present it in the coming days.
Till then have a lay down - and hope we will all wake up to find it was all a dream - and not the living nightmare that the second half proved to be.
10 days before our next league outing is a long time to have to wait to bounce back.
Ref: Andy Madley
Crowd: 32,705
Derby: Grant; Christie, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Mascarell, Bryson, Hughes (Hendrick 45’), Russell, Ward (Bent 76’), Martin
Unused Subs: Roos, Naylor, Bennett, Calero, Shotton.
Goals: Lansbury (o.g 16’), Assombalonga (75’), Osborn (90 + 2’)
Possession: 51% - 49%
Shots On Target: 1 - 4
Shots Off Target: 11 - 16
Corners: 8 - 7
Fouls: 14 — 19
We Said — Steve McClaren:
"I can't fault the first-half performance. We were focused, played when we had to, dominated and restricted them to set-plays. They were playing opportune football."
"We didn't deserve to lose. I think a draw would have been about right. Everybody would have gone away satisfied with a draw. When they equalised, I would have taken the draw.”
"But we showed our inexperience at the end, thinking that with 30 seconds left we should go and try to win it. We lost all shape and got punished. The first half we played like us, the second half was not us."
They said — Stuart Pearce:
"For the team to deliver a performance like that, it puts a marker down for the rest of the season. It's a nice result but it has to be a result that acts as a catalyst and sees us have a good run between now and the summer hopefully, because we have the nucleus of a decent squad here.”
"It's important that we now move forward from here and follow it up with another good result in the next game."
Derby vs. Chesterfield
FA Cup 4th Round - iPro Stadium
15:00pm - Saturday 24th January