The Weston Report: There Was To Be No Divine Intervention For Derby
Tuesday, 5th May 2015 12:59 by Ryan Weston

Shock. Anger. Frustration. Insert your own adjective here. Somehow, and I still cannot believe I’m typing these words, Derby were crushed to leave us finishing the season in EIGTH position.

I’m sure you’ll all excuse me for not having the heart to make this a long one. A game that bar a ten minute spell, we were as threatening as Nick Clegg winning the election.

The team sheets saw yet more changes, as the hokey - pokey at the back continued, with Albentosa coming in and Warnock somehow ending up in the holding-midfield role. Now was not time for experimenting surely?

I will never understand why people say, ‘they have nothing to play for,’ when describing a side. I have never and will never go onto a football pitch wanting to lose, so nobody can tell me that professionals would think anything less.

Anyhow, with Bent back up top and Martin on the bench, you thought that we would have enough firepower to gain at least the point required. The sight of Shaun Barker, questionable attire aside, made me wonder how different things would have been if the skipper would have been fit. Mind you, a one-legged Barker could have done a better job in recent weeks.

After Shaun, sporting a dodgy suit and no socks combo, had deservedly presented Will Hughes with the Jack Stamps trophy, there followed a superb tribute to local broadcaster Colin Bloomfield. Sadly, the Rams couldn’t get the win that Bloomer’s would have been looking down and wanting.

What we needed was a solid start. Something to settle the crowd. A statement of intent. Well, we certainly gave a statement; our defence was still as useful as a chocolate fireplace.

Following a throw-in, Hughes played a short-ball back to Albentosa, who was easily beaten by Appiah. Steaming towards the box, the Reading man showed great composure to sell the back-tracking Keogh a dummy before sliding the ball past Grant. The worst possible start.

Anyone with a doubt to how seriously Reading would take the game just had to look at the amount of time-wasting the Royals immediately employed after the goal. With ex-Forest players Gunter and McCleary in the ranks and organising traffic, the crowd were already edgy and frustrated.

To give us some credit, we didn’t panic and continued to try and play our way. Ince saw a dipping free kick helped wide, before Bent skimmed a header across the box from the resulting corner. Next, good work from the striker saw him engineer his own opening, curling a shot which Federici pushed wide. The corner that followed produced another great save, Shotton pressurising the defender into nearly scoring an own-goal.

Amazingly, from the next corner, Keogh’s header was cleared off the line. The thought that it was going to be ‘one of those days,’ was very much going through my head. Even more so, when Bent’s cut-back found Russell, who snatched wide at the near-post when going across goal would have been the better option.

McClaren then went for another option, replacing Warnock, who once again didn’t complete a first-half against Reading, with Lingard as we switched to a more attacking formation.

The back-door was not so much ajar as wide-open when Alben-slowsa, after hammering two long balls closer to me than anyone in a white shirt, tripped his man towards the edge of his own box. The subsequent free-kick was whipped over the wall but fantastically saved by Grant. Could that be the turning point?

The answer came on the stroke of half-time. Just as the bloke behind me stated that, ‘he hadn’t seen Russell go past a man for weeks,’ Johnny did just that, and was subsequently hauled down by Obita.

Penalty!

And you just knew what was coming.

Bent, stuttered run-up and all, drove his shot into his preferred left-hand corner. Federici though was a man-possessed, plunging low to his right to push away the strike. He couldn’t just do what he did at Wembley against Arsenal could he?

One of those days? You bet!

We had 45 minutes to salvage the season. The sight of Chris Martin gave us hope, with the iPro’s music manager deserving a pay rise, pairing up Chris’ arrival with The Stone Roses’ ‘I Am the Resurrection’.

But there was to be no divine intervention. In fact, the second-half display was one of a side who were booked on a flight to somewhere hot come Monday morning. Not that I believe they didn’t try. There just was nothing left in the tank.

Reading served notice that it was going to be long half almost immediately. Grant saved well from Fosu before Karacan nodded over with the goal gaping. At the other end, Lingard scooped over when well placed.

The large Thorne/Mascarell/Eustace sized hole in the midfield however was once again killing us. Another counter attack saw Fosu shoot narrowly wide when he really should have done better. Off the ball, Reading were defending deeper and deeper, with the Rams probing from side-to-side.

As time ebbed away and the other scores were unfavourable, perhaps it was time to gamble, with Ward summoned and ready. However, as always seems to be the way, we were dealt a sucker punch.

After Grant had tipped over another strike from Fosu, the subsequent corner was not dealt with. As the ball pinballed around the box, somehow, the ball fell to Hector who had the easy task of all but confirming the Rams’ place in the Championship for another season.

Even with 17 minutes left, plenty of time to turn it around, you just knew it wouldn’t happen. The closest we came was when Bent latched onto Lingard’s through ball, and perhaps should have gone down under contact from Federici. However, he kept his feet and played the ball back to Martin, who should have smashed it into the net first-time left footed. Instead, even Chris seemed consigned, dwelling and then being dispossessed.

From the next attack, the final dagger through our hearts. Once again, we didn’t clear and a brilliant pass found Karacan, being played on by the injured Lingard. Free of the defence, the Reading midfielder took it around Grant, only to be hauled down by our stopper.

Penalty.

0-3.

Season done.

Mass exodus. Boos. Arguments…. and that was just around me!

The rest of game went on. I can’t say as if I really took interest. Full-time and the fans that remained saw eleven broken men. One cannot fault their effort, and anyone with a functioning pair of eyes could tell how much they were hurting.

There is no shying away from the fact that it has been a remarkable slide from grace. Quite how we conspired to fall from equal top with 11 games to go to finish outside of the playoffs is open to opinion. For what it’s worth, here’s mine.

A mixture of crippling injuries, poor management and sheer lack of quality is to blame. Take the number of key players that we had missing out of any squad and they would struggle. To lose Eustace, Thorne, Martin, Buxton and Bent in particular was devastating.

McClaren also has to shoulder some blame. Too much tinkering, despite much being enforced, disrupted and didn’t give us chance to build momentum or a settled side. Defensively in particular, we needed a platform, not the hokey cokey.

Other strange occurrences included playing Hanson for two massive games and then not again, along with putting square pegs in round holes ie Forsyth at centre-half etc.

However, most of the blame has to go to the players. Again, it was not for the lack of effort but some proved simply not good enough. The form of some players in particular during the last few games has been nothing short of dreadful. There’s only so much a coach can ‘coach.’

I look at Lee Grant and don’t see the same goalkeeper as last year. Forsyth couldn’t pass the parcel. Albentosa, although still settling in, looks out of his depth. Cyrus Christie seems to have got someone else’s boots on.

I could go on. But a line has to be drawn. I’m gutted, but the fact of the matter is we wouldn’t have won the playoffs playing like we have been. You feel it’s going to be long summer. Whether we can keep our assets again remains to be seen.

Just looked at the table again. Someone pinch me. I’m off for a lay down.

Weston’s Player Ratings:

Lee Grant — 6: Guilty for the pen. Couple of good saves.

Ryan Shotton — 6: Solid going backwards but can’t cross.

Richard Keogh — 6: Sold down the river for the first goal and dived in too much.

Raul Albentosa — 5: Very poor. Not commanding enough, hesitant and too slow. Hope he improves with a full pre-season.

Craig Forsyth — 5: Poor again. Distribution shocking.

Stephen Warnock — 5: Looked like a fish out of water.

Will Hughes — 6: Even Will had an off day.

Jeff Hendrick — 6: Did ok

Johnny Russell — 6: Looks to have faded badly over recent weeks.

Tom Ince — 7: The spark but not enough.

Darren Bent — 6:Missed crucial pen but has been fantastic.

Subs:

Jesse Lingard — 7: Lively but shooting needs sorting out!!

Chris Martin — 6: Tried hard but tough ask returning from injury.

Jamie Ward — 6: Finally gets a run but unfortunately the horse had bolted.

Match Info / Rams Team:

Ref: James Linington

Crowd: 30,806

Derby: Grant, Shotton, Keogh, Albentosa (Ward 73’), Forsyth, Hendrick, Warnock (Lingard 33’), Hughes, Ince, Bent, Russell (Martin 45’).

Unused Subs: Christie, Sammon, Roos, Rawson.

Match Stats — Derby 0 - 3 Reading:

Goals: Appiah 2’, Hector 72’, McCleary 85’ (pen).

Possession: 64% / 36%

Shots On Target: 3 / 7

Shots Off Target: 7 / 9

Corners: 7 / 5

Fouls: 9 / 19

We Said / They Said - Match Reaction:

We Said — Steve McClaren:

"I'm really annoyed, angry, and frustrated about the last two months and am really determined to do something about it. I'm not making a pledge, this is how I feel at the present moment. I'm under contract at Derby and I've said that all along. I've been questioned about all the speculation which has been going on for about six months.”

"My intention is to sort this out. No one has told me otherwise and until somebody does, that's my determination. I'm angry, frustrated, I want to do something about it. I want to sit down with everybody next week, I think it's too raw, too early to make any kind of statement but what I say is what I mean."

They said — Steve Clarke:

"A lot of performances have been really good but the key moments in the game went against us. But today, the key moments in the game went for us and that's the difference.”

"The players were stuck in a little bit of a rut and had forgotten how to win a game and today they managed to remember so I've told them when they go away for the summer, don't forget what it's like to win a game. So this is a good way for us to finish."