Leeds sunk again by rampant Rams who once again were well up for the visit of "Dirty Leeds Scum".
It was like a journey back to the 70's as I made the 16 mile or so journey into Derby where we had not won for 10 years and recorded an astonishing seven straight defeats against the Rams. The "We all hate Leeds and Leeds and Leeds" dated back to the time when Gary Glitter was a national treasure rather than Paul Gadd the stinking nonce. The Derby fans then got topical with a few choruses of "Jimmy Saville, he's one of your own." Blimey they must have waited ages to air that one, no doubt almost from the moment the horrible truth that Saville had been giving out more than "Jim'll Fix It" badges.
Indeed the local radio station confirmed that the fixture against us was nearly as eagerly anticipated as the visit of Nottingham Forest, where their current manager and his father Brian earned so much success down the A52 which runs within yards of their stadium.
Still I and no doubt many of the 4000 travelling whites had good grounds for optimism. Whilst we were making easy meat of Huddersfield and were unbeaten in three they collapsed in their own derby at Leicester City. Their home form of just one defeat against Burnley and Nigel's vow "we fear no-one at home" made just slight discomfort for us as the game kicked off, with Leeds in their azure blue away kit unchanged otherwise than Ryan Hall starting in place of Jerome Thomas.
It was a dull opening to be fair. Derby had the slight edge possession wise and on 15 they made it count when horrible little peroxide snot and latest Rams golden boy Will Hughes sent Lee Peltier's head into orbit with a neat pass than on-loan Wigan Striker Conor Sammon to beat Kenny from 10 yards.
Peltier looked the weakest link at left back and Derby looked keen to exploit his inability to deal with pace by running at him. Leeds just seemed unable to keep possesion, inviting Derby to attack and attack. Ryan Hall was subjected to an attack of another variety when Jeff Hendrick's left him in a heap which according to Neil Warnock warranted a red but he got yellow.
We grimly hung on and my attention was diverted to the horrible old git to my left who constantly dished out a stream of vile racist abuse towards Derby's Theo Robinson and an Asian ball boy. I will be emailing his seat number to the club incidentally.
Quite clearly my new found racist friend had been overindulging in the amber nectar and as he staggered off to the toilets, Leeds scored against the run of play. Peltier delivered a cross from the left, Becchio headed on into the path of Paul Green who bundled home the equaliser and clearly enjoyed scoring against one of his old clubs.
Leeds came out and enjoyed their best spell after the break. We should have been 2-1 up but somehow Michael Jacob's acrobatically kept out McCormack's drive. The Scot saw another one saved and a decent cross just evaded the advancing Becchio.
However again we were giving up possession far too cheaply and inviting the hosts on to us and it was no real surprise when they regained the lead on 66. Leeds failed to clear a Derby move which began with a Robinson header, our one-time trialist Richard Keogh shot which was diverted past Kenny by Jake Buxton.
Leeds pressed for an equaliser. McCormack wasted a free kick. Hall was replaced by Luke Varney. The groans and "If Varney scores, we're on the pitch" came from the away end and the home fans even booed him louder than they did Paul Green!
If the sight of Varney was not enough to convince the most optimistic travelling white that it was going to be yet another one of those days against Derby, Tom Lees struck the post with a header. Diouf on for the ineffectual McCormack raised hope briefly with a couple of sweet runs down the right and went close with a 20 yarder.
Even with seven minutes to go, Derby seemed happy to try and hold the ball near the corner flag to run down time. Then it dawned on them if they had another run at our paceless midfield who could not tackle a fish supper then they might gain some rewards.
Substitute Ben Davies curled home an unstoppable drive past Kenny on 94 minutes, the natives to the right broke out into another verse of "We all hate Leeds Scum" and Warnock was left to think of his excuses as to why Leeds were not a different proposition to the side that feebly lost to Derby on Easter Monday. This performance was just as bad!