By half time Steve McClaren must have been thinking - 'What the hell have I done"? But after being 3 goals down, Derby pulled off a remarkable come-back to steal a point. And according to Darren Wassall, it was McClaren who triggered the turn around with a half time chat and a few tactical suggestions.

Steve McClaren must have had a sinking feeling as he sat in the stands watching the Rams worst 45 minutes of their season. Perhaps you can’t blame the players for being flat, who had lost their manager only days earlier but whatever the excuse, it seemed as if The Rams were destined for one of their worst losses in recent history as they were already 3 down at the break.

Berra opened the scoring for Town on 7 minutes and Murphy doubled the lead on 9 minutes. The Rams were on the canvas.

Whitbread hit back when he scored on debut for Derby’s first but the goal did not spark the home team as Cresswell score on 14 and Murphy seemingly put the game out of the Ram's reach with another on 34 to make it 1- 4.

Following on from such a turbulent week, it was all too much for many Rams fans who, rather than refreshments, headed for the exits at half time.

After the match, interim manager Darren Wassall claimed that a talk from McClaren at half time and some help tinkering with the line up, worked wonders.

Firstly on 47 minutes, Craig Bryson finished truly after bursting into the box at speed and soon after on 61, Jamie Ward pulled it back to 3-4.

Ipswich were under siege but looked set to hang on as the Ram's hope of an equaliser started to fizzle. But just as hope seemed lost, the Rams goal-scoring machine of late Craig Bryson, rammed in from close range as the clock ticked into 89 minutes.

A day of high emotion, one that more than ever highlighted the dual personality of the Rams team this season and their phobia of playing consistent football at home.

Reporter Ryan Weston was at Pride Park on Tuesday night for RamZone and we will present his full report of happenings on and off the pitch later today.

With so much happening and so much to talk about, it will be a report not to be missed — check back later today for ‘The Weston Report’ — exclusive to RamZone!

Match Facts:

Ref: Trevor Kettle

Crowd: 21,307

Possession: Derby 62% — Ipswich 38%

Shots (on target): Derby 14 (6) — Ipswich (5)

Corners: Derby 8 — Ipswich 6

Fouls: Derby 14 — Ipswich 15

Teams:

Derby : Grant; Smith, Buxton, Whitbread, Forsyth; Davies (Bennett H.T), Bryson, Hughes, Ward (Russell 90); Sammon (Eustace H.T), Martin.
Unused Subs: Deeney (gk), Lowe, Hanson, Jacobs.

Goals: Z.Whitbread (12’), C.Bryson (47’,88’), J.Ward (61’)

Ipswich : Gerken; Chambers, Berra, Smith, Cresswell; Anderson (Edwards 71), Hyam, Skuse, Tunnicliffe (Tabb 72); Murphy, McGoldrick (Nouble 82).
Unused Subs: Loach (gk), Hewitt, Mings, Wordsworth.

Goals: C.Berra(7), D.Murphy(9), A.Cresswell (14), D.Murphy (34)

Match Video Highlights:

Photo: Action Images

pkay_brum added 09:32 - Oct 2 Fortunately, we were only 3 goals down, not 4 - I think if it had been 4, it would have been curtains :-( What a comeback! It will be interesting to see how Mac executes his sort-out, as we can't go on with that kind of defensive (1st half) performance.
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