Hapless At Home Rams Crowned By Royals - The Weston Report
Sunday, 22nd Sep 2013 14:36 by Ryan Weston

Whatever oranges were supplied in the home dressing-room at half-time need to be quickly bagged up and binned after a woeful second-half display left Derby still searching for three home points.

The old adage of a game of two halves was certainly true of this one as the Rams seemingly pressed the self-destruct button somewhere in between the strains of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ as they re-emerged for the second forty-five.

In a week where Bryson finally scored the first-Rams hat-trick since 1601, we scored five and got out of the Den alive (just) and collected four points with seven goals, I alluded during the obligatory pre-match pint that even a point today would have yielded a successful trio of games. Cue various vitriol and accusations of negativity on my behalf. Hindsight, as they say, is a wonderful thing.

To be fair, my tune would have been totally different if asked during the escape to the concourse from the horrendous ‘Fan Cam’ at the interval. The unchanged Rams looked a completely different outfit from the one that produced the Halloween DVD horror-show (look out for it in all good retailers) against Burnley last time out on the hallowed turf.

After a slow and steady start, both on the field and in the stands, a hint of atmosphere was rewarded with Russell shooting dangerously at the near-post, only for McCarthy to alertly push the ball to safety.

From the outset, this was never going to be a malicious game, with the first foul given after a twelve-minute long game of cat and mouse. We were, if nothing else, looking solid, with Eustace providing exactly the puzzle-piece which had been lacking against the Clarets.

Through gritted teeth, I must confess that the visitors’ most-lively threat came in the shape of McCleary, who obviously acquired none of his skills on display from the dark-side of the A52. A mazy run saw him beat, or rather avoid, a few dangled-legs before shooting over.

If he was the outlet for Reading, then Jamie Ward certainly was for the Rams, with him apparently having license for another ‘free role,’ not to be confused with running around aimlessly shouting for possession. This tactical masterstroke from Clough Jnr almost bore fruit however; when Ward smashed a swerving left-footed shot from range which produced a strong double handed save.

Our passes began to find white-shirts, with the two up top holding the ball up considerably better than previously, although we were again guilty of wasteful crossing, particularly from both full-backs. As Martin’s frustration grew, one thought that our best chances would come from range.

The message obviously transmitted to the players as first a Hughes chip, then a Ward rocket and finally another Hughes effort tested McCarthy from distance. Though it was nice to see us not being shot-shy, the lack of pace in behind often led us with little alternative.

With this said, apart from the occasional burst from McCleary, including a dangerous centre which somehow avoided everyone, the Rams looked the better side.

Injury time finally saw a quality cross from Forsyth, which was turned over by Smith from a tight angle. Reasons for optimism then, as referee Robinson (not Theo) blew his whistle.

However, the second half went the same way as the pigeon that my cat bought to me as a present on Monday… we didn’t see it coming. What we did see was another scruffy, dirty, horrendous goal from an all too familiar source.

A free-kick, midway into our half was lofted towards the back stick, where, again, we were guilty of allowing a free header back into the danger area. With no-one alert to the danger, Buxton challenged Pogrebnyak and the ball, almost apologetically, rolled into the net via Grant’s hand.

The lack of belief was all too apparent, so much so that Buxton, Eustace and myself looked in vein towards the officials for a decision that never came, for a foul that never was. We had let ourselves down and were one behind.

Down was exactly the way heads around the stadium had gone. The next five minutes were akin to somebody changing the difficulty settings on a video game to ‘hard’ as we struggled to join dots. Passing a square ball across the half-way line is great for possession stats but not for goals.

Just as we prepared to bring the prolific Coutts off the bench to change the game, it was two. Despite being a wall of white in the area, Russell forgot what he was told one morning as a kid on a cold, damp, probably snowy summers day in Dundee — “don’t mess around in your own box”. A scuffed cross saw the Scot miss-control the ball straight to the Russian with the long name who smashed past Grant, seemingly so appalled by Johnny’s mistake that he didn’t even bother to dive.

The first half resoluteness seemed a few-seasons ago as we switched straight back into Burnley mode, with Eustace replaced by Coutts after he mistook the corner flag for Will Hughes.

Our width was now non-existent, with a weeks wages apparently the going fine for anyone found with white on their boots. Only one man could save us now, and sure enough, as another set-piece of our own ended up with McCarthy, out strode the fish from the dugout, chest out, ready for business.

Russell, probably fearing a stray water-bottle to the head, departed, as the fans showed their anger at the straight swap. From the off though, Sammon bought an urgency and desire that seemed lacking for the previous duration of the half, and was soon involved in all of the positive moves, and ultimately, our consolation goal.

After a foray into the inside-right channel of the box, the ball was missed or stabbed at by a few players, before falling perfectly to Hughes, who again showed his class by curling majestically over the keeper and into the corner.

Game on and Jacobs on as finally Ward departed, though rumours are he never actually reappeared for the second half.

A few moments of trickery followed; as did a few corners, but you never really felt it was to be, even after the fourth official had shown us six additional minutes. Four of those were spent deep in our territory, with the love child of Linda Robson and Nwankwo Kanu irritatingly good at keeping the ball in the corner.

From one last attack, we forced another set play, which yet again ended up being punched away. In our desperation for a leveller, we left ourselves exposed, although Smith and Grant should have done better before Blackman sealed it for the Royals.

Cue mass-exodus and a chorus of half-hearted boos. The search party was also called for, looking for where the real players had been hidden after being replaced by eleven lookalikes for the second period.

As the players trudged off without as much as a second glance to any of the stands, we had been left with yet another post-match reflection on where it all went wrong. Excuses of teams coming to Pride Park with a different set-up, is becoming tiresome already.

The key to how the Rams can combat this is not use it as a negative when things go wrong. With this said, the police should be called for yet more criminal defending on show. Until we eradicate these errors, home will be anything but sweet.

Not to worry though. Our next two games are away, against some little known local opposition.

And at least this one wasn’t the main game on the football league show…..

What? Oh...

Weston’s Player Ratings

Lee Grant- Poorest game this season. Should have done better with first and third goals. Unusually flappy at crosses Rating 5

Craig Forsyth- Beginning to really test my patience. Bring back Gareth Roberts (a sentence I thought I’d never say) 5

Adam Smith- Looked nervous and didn’t win a single header from the diagonal ball. Poor 5

Jake Buxton- Could have done better with first goal. Distribution better 6

Richard Keogh- Didn’t do too much wrong, which is a worry if we concede 3 goals 6

Craig Bryson- No Hat-trick. Not good enough 5

John Eustace- Tackled well but distribution very poor. 6

Will Hughes —Played well considering not fully fit. Looked longingly for a pass wide which was never on. Good goal. Weston’s Star man 7

Jamie Ward- Good spell in first half but faded big-time in the second. Looked a little lost at times 6

Johnny Russell- Another one who faded in the second half 5

Chris Martin- Good first half….did he come out for the second? 5

Subs

Paul Coutts- Passed the ball well but again found width hard to come by. 6

Michael Jacobs- Brief cameo, provided much needed flair 6

Connor Sammon- Provided spark from the bench, looked genuinely up for it and got crowd up. Must be close to a start 7

We said….

Derby manager Nigel Clough:

“We have to stop giving sloppy goals away because it’s killing us at the moment. It’s a result we didn’t want nor expect going into the game and certainly not at half-time after a solid defensive display.”

“There’s elements of our game that we were pleased with, especially in the first half, but the manner of the goals we are conceding is giving us a mountain to climb and unravelling the hard work. It’s pretty simple really — it’s not about tactics or formations at the minute for us it’s about us making it too easy for the opposition to score.”

“It’s not like we’re being outplayed and under heavy pressure for the majority of the game, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Away from home we’ve been very good defensively but at Pride Park we’ve found it difficult for some reason. It’s a mentality thing and we need to have a better concentration level, as a team, to defend and we have to get it right quickly because it’s so frustrating for us and the fans.”

“We know we have genuine lads and they’re giving us their all and it’s frustrating that the good things we did today will get lost in the score line. It’s just disappointing because it feels like we’re beating ourselves at the moment. Once we got a goal back we all felt an equaliser was coming and we built up some pressure and with the crowd behind us we felt we had a chance.”

“The first half was good from our point of view against a strong Reading team with Premier League quality. Reading put men behind the goal but we got shots off from distance and got into some good positions, but we probably just lacked a bit of conviction and quality when it really mattered in the final third.”

“We’re capable of breaking teams down and scoring goals but that’s not quite happening for us. We stressed to the players at half-time we had to still keep it tight, but within a minute or so the plan went out the window.”

“I think for about 80 minutes today we were in the ascendancy but whenever Reading got a shot off from inside our box it went in, which goes back to defending better.”

They said…

Reading manager Nigel Adkins

"It was an excellent performance and the players were outstanding. When you consider we had a difficult game on Wednesday night and expended a lot of energy, we lost several players as well so we knew coming here would be difficult against an excellent Derby side.”

"We came with a game plan; paid them a lot of respect in how we set up and it worked a treat for us. We had a mid-third block, looked to counter and we did that for the final goal. You've got to be disciplined to play like that and the players did that."

"A team coming down is always looked at; rightly the expectation is to be pushing near the top. I'm not sure what the stats are for the club in recent times but this will up there in the last seven or eight years, and we're in the most successful period in the club's history as well.”

"We just want to stay in the race. Don't get too high or too low - admittedly I'm a little bit high right now but that's understandable!"

Teams

Derby : Grant (GK), Smith, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth, Eustace (Coutts 65’), Bryson, Hughes, Ward, (Jacobs 80’) Martin, Russell (Sammon 74’).

Unused Subs: Deeney (GK), Freeman, Davies, Bennett.

Reading : McCarthy (GK), Gunter (boooo), Pearce, Morrison, Kelly, Baird, (Akpan 64’) Guthrie, McCleary (Blackman 84’), Obita, (Cummings 78’) Robson-Kanu, Pogrebnyak

Unused Subs: Federeci (GK), Gorkks, Tshibola, Le Fondre

Match Stats

Attendance: 21, 465

Referee: Mr.Robinson (well here’s to you)

Shots: Derby 15 - Reading 11

On Target: Derby 8 - Reading 5

Corners: Derby 8 - 5 Reading

Fouls: Derby 12 - Reading 11

Match Video Highlights: