G.M's Match Day Preview: I Just Can't See Derby Not Winning!
Tuesday, 28th Jan 2014 07:47 by George Martin

Derby welcomes Yeovil to the iPro stadium tonight buoyed by a late and well deserved equaliser away at Blackburn.

There was not much in the first half against Blackburn on Saturday. Derby was the team trying to play football on the ground and moved the ball around intricately without really testing Robinson. The back five were solid, Dawkins was lively out wide and Eustace shielded the centre halves well.

Blackburn mainly looked for an early, direct ball or a pass over the top to Rhodes. Grant made a good save from Gertside in the only real moment of danger. Hendrick had to leave the field injured after an awful late tackle which left the Blackburn player being stretched off. I had little sympathy for him as it was self inflicted and causes Hendrick to be sidelined because of it.

Blackburn scored early in the second half after Keogh brilliantly intercepted the ball but then overran it slightly when bringing it out, this caused him to be robbed of possession forty yards from the Derby goal. A bit of skill from Rhodes gave him the space to put in a decent cross to find the unmarked Gertside, with Keogh out of position and Forsyth not 'breaking his neck' to get back and cover.

Derby forced Blackburn back and played some brilliant football as crosses and shots rained in on their goal. An equaliser was coming! Eventually Sammon fed Bamford who, with minimal back lift, produced superb accuracy and power to find the far bottom corner.

Hysteria from the 1,220 army of fans followed! Derby pushed for a deserved winner, but it was not to meant to be.

A good point.

Yeovil have picked up form of late but are still in the bottom three fighting for their lives. They played well against Southampton losing 2-0 in the FA cup at the weekend. They also had a good result beating Birmingham 2-0 away from home, but it was their first win in seven games.

Ishmael Miller and James Hayter will be full of energy up front and could cause Derby problems. Joel Grant and Joe Ralls are two other players to watch out for.

As mentioned earlier, Jeff Hendrick is out injured with ligament ankle damage after that terrible tackle. Hughes will start in his place for Derby. Will did well when he came on at Blackburn while McClaren has said Bamford will start at least one game this week. I think it should be against The Glovers. He is in form, we are at home and hopefully he won't have to do too much defending.

Ward will be the player to drop to the bench, but I could see him returning on Saturday away to Birmingham. The other option is to start Bamford instead of Martin. Good selection problems to have.

Although Yeovil play neat football and will be trying to get every point possible, I just can't see Derby not winning.

We should hopefully have too much for them going forward and as long as we keep a close eye on Miller and Hayter at the back, I can see Derby winning the game and consolidating fourth place.

Current Form — Last 5 League Matches:

Derby (4th): W, L, L, W, D

Yeovil (23rd): L, L, L, L, W

The Stats That Matter:

Up until a month ago the Rams were proven quick starters this season with 24 of their goal tally coming in the first 45 minutes of matches. In their last 5 competitive outings they have failed to score in the first half, something Macca will be keen to rectify.

Steve McClaren has collected a whopping 75% of available points since arriving at Derby with 36 of a possible 48 points under his belt. But that percentage has been sliding steadily taking 7 of the last 15.

The Rams have the highest goals ‘for’ in the Championship with 51 but have only scored 1 goal in their last 3 matches at the iPro (including the FA Cup).

Derby and Yeovil had never met until earlier this season when The Rams won convincingly, 3-0 in August last year.

Derby has won only one of their past five games in all competitions, losing three.

Yeovil have been having a shocker this season with only 21 goals scored. They have lost 11 of their 13 away matches but did manage their first win in 7 last time out, when they defeated Birmingham away 0 — 2. Reason to be cautious.