There are no easy games in football. Whoever came up with that obviously wasn’t at the iPro (aka: Pride Park) yesterday, as the Rams swept aside hapless Rotherham.
The last meeting between the sides at the New York stadium still keeps me awake sometimes. A 3-0 lead gone in ten minutes. A beaming Leon Best. A bizarre rendition of ‘New York, New York’ from the home faithful. The city that never sleeps stadium. Quite…
This time however it will be visiting gaffer Kenny Jackett who will be awake in the small hours, as the task of keeping the Millers up looks pretty much hopeless on this display.
Still, you can only beat what’s in front of you and the Rams did that with plenty left in the tank. With Chris Baird filling the Cyrus Christie shaped hole at right back, we set about providing the home-banker the bookies suggested.
For the first ten minutes, however, it looked as if a contest may be on the cards. Rotherham, while not particularly troubling us, started brightly. The Rams on the other hand started with the same grace of man who’d had 8 pints the night previous. Keogh might as well have had, given the hideous choice of pink boots!
But on our first real foray into enemy territory, we went ahead.
Johnson intercepted a through ball and fed Butterfield, who drove forwards and found Ince on the right. That the ball was slightly behind him mattered little, as Thomas drove into the box only to be upended by a clumsy at best tackle from Fisher. Spot kick.
Having confidently scored against Wolves, Ince picked himself up and you would have backed him to score again. However, he would have to beat the man who you imagine tells himself he loves himself in the mirror at least once a day. That’s right, our old friend Lee Camp, who is now seemingly bereft of a local barbershop.
You sort of knew what was coming. Ince struck-Camp saved, only to unluckily see the ball rebound to Tom to side foot home. You almost felt sorry for him. Almost…
Perhaps now we would start to play? Well, within 5 minutes, it was 2. Butterfield was again the architect, sprinting forwards before playing in Bent on the angle. Perhaps last season, it would have come to nothing. Not now, as the newly confident Darren shifted his feet, took aim and fired a beautiful finish across the preening peacock into the corner.
Even at 2-0, even with 20 minutes gone, you felt that was it already. The sad truth for Rotherham was that we hadn’t even changed from first gear.
Slowly though, we found the gearstick and began to play our stuff. A flowing move eventually saw the ball cleared to the edge of the box, where the prolific Chris Baird took aim, only to see his wayward shot deflect further wide.
From the resulting corner, Pearce had the freedom of Derby and produced a fine save from the peacock, who displayed his feathers proudly to the North Stand.
Our passes were now short and crisp, much the opposite of Rotherham’s kick and hope and probably pray tactics. Forest-reject Halford embodied this approach. Hair like Messi and his football very messy.
Still, for our dominance, we were given a warning sign shortly before half-time. A throw-in caught at least three white shirts napping, as Newell found himself free in the box. His strike stung the palms of Carson, who was thankful to see Max Lowe tidy up.
This seemed to galvanise us, with an excellent move down the left leading to Butterfield cutting back to Hughes. With plenty of time to pick his spot, he did. The spot he chose was Row K, seat 758.
Next, a long ball from Johnson saw Russell nod to Ince, whose fierce drive was straight at the peacock. Half-time.
You felt that there were more goals should we want them, with Rotherham doing little to defy their position at the foot of the table. A set play was their best route back and so it almost proved, as a whipped delivery evaded everyone and woke Carson from his nap.
Soon though, any doubt was dispelled. A clearance from Rotherham was met by the dominant forehead of Johnson. Bent was offside, but Ince came from deep and the Rotherham defence parted like the red sea.
Moses, sorry Ince, kept his cool to slide past the peacock. Game, set and match. Now it was just a case of how many. Weimann replaced Russell as we pushed for more. Our midfield trio was running the Millers ragged and it was great play from Hughes which provided Ince with a golden chance to take the match-ball home.
After William had fed him in the box, Ince danced past Mattock who inexplicably hauled him down. Another spot-kick. And sadly, another save, as Ince picked power over accuracy.
After being heckled throughout the second half, the peacock decided to give some back, preening in front of the Stand as if he had protected a lead. I couldn’t possibly tell you what the South Stand did in return on a family site. I will tell you that Weimann stabbed straight at him from the resulting corner.
Bent seemed to go over on his ankle and was swiftly replaced by Vydra. After another excellent move saw Hughes fire over and following that our £8m man really should have re-paid some of his fee. More brilliant work from Max Lowe fed Weimann, whose cut back found Vydra on the edge of the box. Cleverly playing a one-two with Ince, he had time to pick whatever spot he wanted. Sadly, this was too close to the peacock, who saved well low down.
A tinge of complacency from Johnson saw Newell rob him 30 yards out and he was unlucky to see his shot deflected just wide. The truth was though that 3-0 flattered Rotherham. Another truth was that Hughes had left his shooting boots at home.
As our visitors chased shadows, the ball eventually was played to Will on the edge of the box. Taking a touch, he again smashed it well over. The gaffer almost dropped his brew in disappointment!
There was to be no more goals and we left sad that we couldn’t find another, How times change!
Yes, Rotherham were as poor as we’ve seen. Yes, there is still work to do. But the signs are extremely encouraging.
Perhaps there will be a play-off push for Christmas?
Scott Carson — 7: Only one save of note. Distribution very good.
Chris Baird — 6: Dependably did the job he was asked to do.
Richard Keogh — 6: Very fetching pink boots, a couple of bad mistakes but solid enough.
Alex Pearce — 7: Very solid once again.
Max Lowe — 8: Getting better each week, a star in the making.
Will Hughes — 8: A slow start but at his mercurial best in spells in the second half.
Jacob Butterfield — 8: At the heart of the first two goals. Very assured
Bradley Johnson — 8: Can’t remember him losing a challenge. A couple of complacent moments.
Johnny Russell — 6: Something isn’t quite clicking for Johnny at the moment.
Tom Ince - Weston’s Star Man — 9: A bizarre game with two missed pens and two goals! Had his man on toast all day and looked the player we know he can be.
Darren Bent — 8: Another cracking finish, his confidence growing each week.
Subs:
Andreas Weimann — 7: Good to see him get some minutes and looked sharp.
Matej Vydra — 6: Missed another great chance.
Craig Bryson — 6: A lovely time to come on and run around for ten mins!
We said: The Gaffer - Steve McClaren
‘We didn't start well, once we got the goal we settled. We could have scored more and we created chances. Five or six games a go we were wondering if we would ever score, but now we are creating chances and credit to the staff. We could have scored four, we missed a penalty but the clean sheet was important. Progress was made. We are not the full package, there is still a lot of work, but I am still encouraged by the response of the players."
They said: The Other Gaffer — Kenny Jackett
"We are still struggling to find a defensive set-up that can keep us competitive. We started the game pretty well in the first 20 minutes, we had a lot of it, we had the ball and made inroads but then we gave two very poor goals away on the break when we were in good positions.”
"The second half was similar, we were playing in and around our box and then gave away a very, very poor third goal away. The key moments took the game to them. The outstanding statistic which is disappointing again is the goals against column. It's frustrating when you lose the game. The better side won, I can't say that wasn't the case. We started the game and gave them two goals, which is disappointing."
COYR!!