Our society loves to label success stories with a defining moment, a decision or action that not only changes a course of events but also signals a new dawn. I may be building it up a little too much but with one single substitution on Saturday — Nigel Clough showed that perhaps he finally has a team he is confident can do the business.

Firstly let me set the scene - the Rams were leading 2-1 and I don’t think I would be overstating things if I assume most Derby fans in the stands, listening on radio, following text commentary, posting on message boards or venting on Facebook were all waiting for the shut up shop tactics regularly employed by Clough once we hit the front in an away fixture.

Instead when the substitution was finally announced the hair stood up on the back on my neck as it was not Eustace for Russell as expected, instead Nigel had done the unthinkable. Brighton were attacking, seeking an equaliser and instead of locking the gate, Nigel sent another bull through, replacing a tired forward with a fresh forward, throwing the fight right back at the Seagulls.

Could this turn out to be the moment in time that we will look back on and remember ‘that substitution’, the one that proved Nigel genuinely believed he had a squad good enough to take on the division. Perhaps he also learned from the result of the opening day draw with Blackburn, points were lost by trying to shore things up when sometimes adding fresh legs to attack could prove to be just as helpful.

Whatever the reason — Nigel did what the fans had been screaming for during recent seasons — may it long continue and then together we can rejoice.

With a shiny new diamond formation employed, Nigel Clough again attempted to fit all of his prized midfielders into the one team and with Hughes just sitting behind the front two — if nothing else our attack looked very dangerous. One man in particular cut through the home sides chances as Chris Martin proved to be the pointy tip of the Rams new tactic.

The Rams had slightly shaded opening exchanges during the match but some ordinary defending allowed a Calderon cross to find Leo Ulloa at the far post who headed powerfully past Lee Grant. School boy defending away from home and once again we thought away day pain was to follow.

It seemed like a script from last season was being used again as Derby looked the better team everywhere but on the scoreboard. The Rams pressed forward and this is where the re-writes began to take effect.

Craig Forsyth crossed to the near post finding Chris Martin who fired a shot, it was charged down but Martin was on hand to rifle in a follow up shot which beat Kuszczak and scores were level.

The half played out with both teams attempting to gain ascendancy but neither could capitalise on their chances as penalty shouts by Brighton were waved away and Bryson shot over the bar after some great play deserved a better result.

The Rams had finished the first half stronger and began the second breathing fire as Kieron Freeman fizzed in a low cross that bamboozled the goalkeeper and defenders. Kuszczak made the decision to come off his line, and then had second thoughts which allowed Martin to get ahead of Calderon to score his second.

The Rams continued to be bright and positive but slowly Brighton gained momentum and pushed to level things up again. The pressure was on as Rohan Ince volleyed wide from 20 yards, Kemy Agustien had a 25 yard fire ball tipped over and Matthew Upson glanced a header wide.

But after Ward was introduced the Rams did attacking of their own again as Martin came close to completing his hat trick on a few occasions and Jamie himself terrorised the Seagulls defence and should have put it beyond doubt in injury time when he shot wide after breaking free of the defence.

And so it came to pass that the Rams new formation and new positive substitution tactic rewarded them on their first trip away of the season.

Fluke or a sign of things to come?

Only time will tell — it always does!

Managers Reaction

Talking to the official site after the match Nigel Clough was undeniable upbeat:

“Over the course of the game we deserved the win and the performance from the players was magnificent to say the least. We were disappointed to go a goal down in the first half because we were on top at that point, but the players showed a great response rather than dropping their heads.”

“They carried on performing and we created plenty of opportunities, and it was important we got level before the break. Although we were under the cosh at times, that’s always going to the case away from home and I fancied us to get a third goal to be honest the way we were playing. You have to give the lads at the back credit too; they were rock solid when we needed them.”

“We switched the system around a little bit today in midfield and we dictated the play from the word go, which is a big step forwards for us at a place like this. It’s not been too often we’ve dictated games on our travels so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.”

“I’m delighted for the fans too; it’s a long way down to Brighton and it’s brilliant for them to see us put on a performance like that and a get a win.”

“Chris (Martin) deserves to grab the headlines and his finishes were superb. We really think highly of him and think he has a big part to play this season. We’ve given him a bit of responsibility this year by giving him the number nine shirt, and he’s grasped it with both hands. He’s out main man up front and a really strong target man and his finishes were of a striker in extremely high confidence.”

“His all-round play has been brilliant and Chris is at the stage of his career where he needs to settle down and have a good few years playing somewhere, and we believe Derby County is the right club for him. Chris is good enough to take us to where we want to go, which is the top six and beyond, so he deserves to grab the headlines today.”

“It’s been a good start and it’s great to see everyone so positive and full of confidence. We’re unbeaten in three and it’s a good habit to be in. Now we’ve got an away win like this on the board it has given us a great platform to build on and already we can’t wait for the game against Leicester at Pride Park next weekend.”

Match Stats:

Possession: Seagulls 49% - Rams 51%

Shots: Seagulls 10 - Rams 8

Shots On Target: Seagulls 4 - Rams 2

Corners: Seagulls 6 - Rams 6

Fouls: Seagulls 14 - Rams 14

Teams:

Derby County : Grant (GK); Freeman, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth, Coutts, Hendrick, Bryson, Hughes (Eustace 84), Martin, Russell (Ward 65). Unused Subs: Legzdins (GK), Smith, Sammon, Jacobs, Davies.

Brighton & Hove Albion: Kuszczak (GK); Maksimenko, Upson, Greer, Calderon; Ince (LuaLua 80), Agustien, David; Buckley (March 85), Barnes (Andrews 70), Ulloa. Unused Subs: Ankergren (GK), El-Abd, Crofts, Forster-Caskey.

Next Game:

Derby v Leicester — 3pm August 18^th, Pride Park Stadium

Photo: Action Images

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