Derby County had a very disappointing return from their two consecutive home games last week and faced fellow strugglers Middlesbrough before a home game with promotion contenders Swansea City.

Despite having a largely ineffectual mix in midfield and attack, manager Nigel Clough had spent last week on reorganising his goalkeeping complement. Fans have begun to question Clough’s priorities, though it’s apparent that former No. 1 Stephen Bywater has fallen out of favour at Derby.

Having taken Blackburn’s England Under-21 keeper Frank Fielding ostensibly to fill in for the injured Stephen Bywater for the rest of the season according to the club, Clough suddenly shipped out Bywater on loan to Cardiff City for the rest of the season (still on a 24-hour recall) and brought in veteran Hull goalie Matt Duke on loan as cover for Fielding.

Fielding, having been at Derby for two months before Christmas, can however only appear for Derby during March, which would cover three Championship fixtures.

Nigel Clough claimed to have been aware of Fielding’s short-scale availability and says that Duke will play after Fielding’s loan expires; Fielding can stay at Derby to train. The Derby manager declared his hopes of signing Fielding permanently in the summertime. He might sign, if we're a Championship side!

Derby's plans could yet unravel however, as Hull City’s keeper Vito Mannone (on loan from Arsenal) is now out injured for 6 weeks. Arsenal themselves have two goalkeepers (Szczesny and Fabianski) out injured too, so there could be another round of musical chairs affecting Derby before the season concludes.

The Tigers have Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan on loan to deputise (does anybody actually buy goalkeepers anymore?) so the Rams hopefully won’t suffer consequentially.

President and CEO Tom Glick was interviewed about Derby’s problems by the BBC’s Ross Fletcher for their ‘Late Kick Off’ TV programme on Monday. He had hoped for a home win against Barnsley and declared the club was optimistic but realistic. The priority was safety as soon as possible, from at least 4 wins from the remaining 12 games.

He asserted that the club was working on the plans for next season, seeking permanent additions that can add to the squad. Asked how Clough had survived when other managers with better results’ records had been sacked, Glick said: “He’s our guy, for now and for the future.”

Tom claimed that he and Clough had the skills and determination to carry the club forward and execute a consistent long-term plan.

Again, he would not entertain the question whether Clough would be manager next season and said the aim was to be competitive at the top end of the table, to be in a top six spot next year and to keep working towards promotion. Tape-loop time.

So it was all familiar, defiant stuff from Mr Glick and the BBC pundits (including ex-Ram Darren Moore) said it was ‘refreshing’ that DCFC had stuck by Clough. That’s one view and so is the perception of a ‘brave’ philosophy from the club; others say the club is stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea and don’t have a plan, apart from doing the bare minimum and hoping.

GSE won’t countenance the cost and upheaval of a management change, and dismiss the idea that investment partners are not committed to DCFC. Glick can only reiterate how the master plan will come good in the end. Time will tell if things can work out but patience from the fanbase will be in short supply if season 2011-12 sees another campaign of struggle and make-do.

The midweek game at the Riverside was another ‘must not lose’ encounter, with Derby manager Nigel Clough endeavouring to soften the Rams’ predicament by declaring it was ‘nice’ to attain the 40-points’ mark for the season. Little could really hide the fact that it was a shockingly modest total after the collapse in form that had seen so few victories over the past three months.

The Rams travelled to Middlesbrough on Tuesday to meet a Boro team decimated by injuries and suffering a bad run of results to match Derby’s decline. Their expected renaissance this season after relegation from the Premier League never took off and the dour Tony Mowbray replaced Gordon Strachan as manager. Smoggies’ fans are still waiting for their season to take off.

It was a basement battle in which Derby fans hoped their team could take advantage of Boro’s weaknesses. They have a goalkeeping crisis too, though had just taken the Trees’ keeper Paul Smith on loan.

Derby were without Tomasz Cywka with a knee injury and James Bailey was still absent. Robbie Savage - astonishingly, the texters’ man-of-the-match against Barnsley last Saturday- was relegated to the bench. Young Conor Doyle lined up in midfield alongside Green, Addison and Pearson, the American replacing the injured Tomasz Cywka.

Derby contested the first half well and had the better of things. They deserved the lead they gained after half an hour when Jamie Ward was hauled down by Nicky Bailey. For some reason, fouling to prevent a goalscoring chance did not carry a red card for the Boro man and the Derby players and staff were angry that he escaped dismissal.

Jamie Ward netted the resultant penalty to give the Rams that crucial first goal and they saw out the first half safely. No doubt the Riversiders had the ‘hair-dryer’ treatment from manager Tony Mowbray at the break, as they came out much more positively to take the game to Derby and dominate the second period.

They pressed and Derby conceded ground, giving too much space and time for Boro to build up a head of steam. Though Derby’s attack was blunted, substitute Chris Porter had the ball in the net and was dubiously ruled offside, (replays showed he was level and thus onside); yet another decision that drew the ire of Nigel Clough after the game.

It seemed inevitable that an equaliser would come and Hines headed a free kick that Brayford deflected into his own net. Rams’ keeper Frank Fielding had produced heroics in the match with several splendid saves but was helpless to prevent a nudge from his own defender beating him.

Worse was to come when with only two minutes left, Derby lost possession on the halfway line (Ben Davies the culprit this time) and Boro ran away to set up the winning goal.

Their Moroccan substitute Zemmama latched onto a clearance on the edge of the penalty area and his shot was deflected past Fielding for a desperate last-gasp winner for Middlesbrough.

It was tough luck for the Rams but that’s how things go when you’re down and out; good teams make their own luck and Derby did not have enough in the tank to stem the tide of Boro pressure. If the home side can enjoy such dominance, then a recovery is always on the cards.

Derby folded under Boro’s pressure as another last-ditch damaging defeat was inflicted. When the Rams won at Sheffield United it was a stepping stone towards safety but their feet had slipped off the course and the deep waters of the Championship relegation zone could consume them if results continue to go against them.

The game was contested in front of an attendance of only 13,700; Boro’s lowest crowd of the season. The Riverside Stadium was the paradigm for Pride Park Stadium, its construction preceding the Derby venue and having a slightly larger capacity. The Rams, however, still enjoy gates twice that figure and so it is remarkable how at present the Derby support has held up.

Nigel Clough was muted in criticism of his players afterwards, wisely not indulging in publicly dismantling culprits of wasted possession who contributed to Middlesbrough’s winning goal.

With the bottom two teams (Preston and Scunthorpe) both losing, Derby were 19th in the table and remained 6 points clear of the Championship drop zone on Tuesday evening. Boro’s victory and a win for Crystal Palace tightened things up in the places immediately below them.

With ten games to go, points are needed as soon as possible to ease relegation fears and it would be no small task to take points from promotion-chasing Swansea City on Saturday.

St George’s Park, Rangemoor near Burton started to take shape physically last week, as work on the long-postponed National Football Centre got under way. Developers started work on Friday and about 3 decades after being initially mooted, English football’s national facilities are finally under construction.

Now our game has a chance to catch up with other nations in coaching and player development standards, though it will be no overnight sensation.

Championship leaders QPR are under investigation over a third-party player registration, with alleged violations of seven FA regulations over the 2009 signing of Argentinian Alejandro Faulin including use of an unregistered agent. A points’ deduction could follow should Rangers be proven guilty. 

It’s ironic that Neil Warnock, the ex-Sheffield United boss who was a compensated victim of West Ham’s dubious practices over the ownership of Carlos Tevez, is QPR’s current manager.

Derby’s home game against 2nd-placed Swansea City on Saturday looked a daunting task; the 0-0 draw that the Rams had gained at the Liberty Stadium in October was but a distant memory from when the Rams had looked like becoming a force themselves this season.

With one win in twelve games, two in the last eighteen it was becoming a dire necessity for Derby County to win at home. 

Skipper Robbie Savage called it ‘massive’ and manager Nigel Clough called on the players to hold their nerve. Fans were pessimistic before the game and could only hope that the players would build a bridge between the murky depths of the bottom three and Championship safety.

Manager Clough recalled Robbie Savage, brought in Alberto Bueno and Steve Davies and left Chris Porter and Ben Davies out of his 18-man squad altogether. Derby shrugged off their nerves to seize the initiative from the start; pressing the Swans all over the park denied the promotion hopefuls the time and space to settle and play their football.

Derby County, along with all the other Football League clubs supported the organisation’s official charity partner, the Marie Curie Cancer appeal with activities and fundraising collections this week. The players, clad in shirts displaying the Marie Curie logo were happily not as charitable to Swansea as they had been to many previous visitors to Pride Park Stadium.

Gone were the ponderous recent performances as Derby fought for their Championship lives.  They kept it snappy and tight and worked for each other to ensure the right result was delivered.

Who dares wins and teams must make their own luck - old clichés, but never as true as when Paul Green forced Ashley Williams to clip the ball back towards goal after only six minutes, only to see Swans’ keeper De Vries struggle to regain his position and fail to stop the ball crossing the line.

Derby lacked the resilient focus of a Hulse or a Kuqi to battle the Swans physically but Steve Davies and Jamie Ward ran their socks off to worry defenders into rushed play. The return of Bueno meant that Swansea had to attend his creative thrusts and Derby found more space and variety in attack with him in the line-up.

He may not be a long-term prospect and doesn’t have sufficient steel for 46 Championship battles, so Derby must find a creative player for next season.

The Rams’ midfield matched Swansea’s industry, with Pearson breaking out regularly, both he and Savage effective for once. The defence stood firm, despite riding their luck a few times when Swansea created clear-cut chances. Steve Davies headed in Conor Doyle’s corner soon after half time and Derby had breathing space - but they were never home and dry until the final whistle.

Swansea don’t reside in second place in the table for nothing; they were always dangerous and Darren Pratley headed in to reduce the arrears after 66 minutes, with Fielding, Brayford and Savage all in a muddle, unable to defend a cross.

Rams’ substitute Theo Robinson missed an easy chance to make it 3-1 to Derby from Bueno’s pass with less than ten minutes remaining; he sliced the ball horribly wide from 6 yards, betraying his lack of match fitness.

It was though an excellent, tenacious performance from the Rams with every player giving their all. At last, after more than three months of woe, Derby County were bringing home the bacon. Defeating a promotion-chasing side will give the players more confidence for the season’s run-in.

With two wins and a draw from their last five games, the Derby players are slowly shaking off the disappointments and hard luck stories of recent times and forging a safe passage into next season’s Championship fixtures.

It was a huge win on Saturday, with the bottom three teams all losing, and it enabled the Rams to move 9 points clear of the drop zone.

As I said after the victory at Bramall Lane, nothing less than 110% effort plus the discipline and spirit from victories like Saturday’s and the win over Sheffield United last month will do.

Two or three more wins is the minimum requirement for the Rams to ensure that their decline is arrested; then the talking must turn into action to make Derby a force again.

Fans have endured a lot this season, after the team’s brief purple patch in the autumn. They have seen the most humiliating sequence of results since the shockingly bad Premier League campaign of 2007-08 and will expect the club to respond with more demonstrable ambition to build a squad having genuine quality, more experience and some staying power.

Derby have a tough fixture next Saturday - they are all tough when you’re fighting for precious survival points - as they visit Crystal Palace, who are just one place above the bottom three. A point or a win there, before the international break, would serve the Rams well.

______________________________________________________________________________

RamsWeek 12 last year saw Derby County in a similar position, taking Championship survival ‘step by step’ and needing points urgently to ensure survival. They had a see-saw match at Middlesbrough which ended in a 2-2 draw, played in front of a crowd more than twice the size of the attendance at Boro’s 2-1 win over Derby in March 2011.

Chris Porter and Michael Tonge netted for Derby at the Riverside but Derby had to be content with a scoreless draw at fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday the following Saturday. Last season too, we were watching the Rams edge to safety and hoping for better things in the next campaign.

Photo: Action Images

Derby County Polls