Morley's Match Report: Derby's Dire Defence Waste Amazing Attacks Sunday, 2nd Feb 2014 14:29 by Nathan Morley The Rams threw away what should have been a comfortable victory in twenty minutes of madness. When the final curtain comes down on this season we can only hope that these two points, foolishly tossed away at the death, will not come back to haunt us. Simon Dawkins came out of the line-up for Jamie Ward in Steve McClaren’s only change. It came as a surprise after the former Spurs forward was a shining light in the stellar comeback on Tuesday night. The Rams missed a plethora of chances in the first-half, enough to have been two or three up. Craig Bryson’s saved penalty further asserted the well-known fact that Derby simply aren’t consistently good enough at penalties. What if the play-offs came down to a shoot-out? In the second 45, an early flurry of goals sparked the match into action. It did take Birmingham’s goal to wake up the away side after the break, from them on the Rams assumed control. You probably won’t see a more bizarre goal this weekend than Derby’s second goal. Chris Martin fired a shot that Bryson attempted to avoid but it ended up looping over the goalkeeper via the back of the Scotsman! You may say it was lucky, I’d say it was deserved after the amount that just wouldn’t go in! Finally, the third goal was a wonderful move finished off by full-back Craig Forsyth. Unfortunately it was the last goal of the match that we were all talking about and will be at least until Tuesday week, as Birmingham scored and the Rams threw away the match and their chance to rise to third on the Championship table. The Blues Their midfield was quite non-existent at times and their defence could easily be split open. Creatively, the Blues offered little, instead Lee Clark’s man capitalised on Derby’s deficiencies to earn their unfair share of the soils. The Rams Mac’s Rams were in utter hegemony on the game. A lot of neat football was played in the usual positive fashion; Dawkins wasn’t missed as much as first feared. There is no way that Derby should have lost this one - there is no question about that - the game was ours for the taking. Attacking-wise, the way the team advances together is quite splendid. Unfortunately, it isn’t complemented defensively. In addition, the fact that the Rams couldn’t stand firm against a horrendous Birmingham City makes it harder to accept — they’re an awful side and it’s not hard to see why they’ve been on a slide. The Defence If you’ve not been convinced by the back four for a while then you’ll be no closer to being convinced after yesterday’s display. Generally, there was little for the defence to deal with but when they were a little under the cosh, lapses in concentration proved costly. I felt that matters had improved upon Richard Keogh’s return; they had briefly but not now. There are concerns in that area. So what to do about it? Some more training ground work or take a plunge with on-loan Zak Whitbread? Patrick Bamford I must mention the Rams loanee as he went on some glittering runs and got stuck into some splendid build-up play, especially his link-ups with fellow youngster Will Hughes. It’s becoming clear that he has an extremely bright future ahead, credit to the club for snapping him up and credit to Bamford himself for making the step-up from League One to Championship with such serenity. Another goal today, this time it was at the second attempt — he fired in a rebound from close range to send the away supporters wild. Jamie Ward The ex-Blade has been given a bit of stick from fans recently. Today he showed exactly why it was right to return to starting after being a substitute in midweek; he was definitely the away sides man of the match after his best performance for a while now. His role in the first goal was worthy of a goal itself. Ward weaved in and out, reached the by-line and found the perfect cross. You can’t beat getting to the by-line and putting in a decent cross, one of the most effective ways of attacking. He also bagged in assist in the third goal. Bogey Ground You have to go all the way back to 1995 to find Derby’s last victory at St Andrew’s as there hasn’t been a Rams win there over the past six matches. Unfortunately we will have to wait for at least another year. Coming Up It would’ve been a perfect match to gain all three points with the lunchtime draw between QPR and Burnley and there being a chance to beat the R's in the next fixture but it wasn’t to be. ‘Arry’s glamour side visit Derby on Monday 10th February. For more of Nathan's articles you can read his blog at www.derbycountyfan.com and follow him @NathansRamsBlog on Twitter.
Gaffer Reaction:We Said — Head Coach Steve McClaren: "We should have won it easily and instead we ended up drawing, so that's a disappointment. It's a harsh lesson for our team.” "At 3-1 we lost our discipline and didn't control the game. We just went for it and a game we could have won 4-1, 5-1 or 6-1 ended up a 3-3 draw. "The second goal we conceded was an absolute disgrace. It was a terrible goal. When we lost possession we had six players in front of the ball, Lee Grant saved from Macheda but we failed to defend the loose ball and Burke scores.” ”It's cost us, we've missed a great opportunity in a game we should have won but that's football."
They Said — Birmingham Manager: "I've just said to them that if they give me that from now until the end of the season, we'll get lots of positive results. The desire and never-say-die attitude was there for everyone to see. We could have buckled at 3-1 down against quality opposition but we kept going and got a terrific ending to the game.” "It's a very, very young team full of people who have just got to know each other within a couple of days with so many debuts being made. The lack of experience is scary at times but they're taking it in their stride and showing a mental courage to keep fighting and fighting.”
Match Stats — Birmingham / Derby:Possession: 47% / 53% Corners: 5 / 8 Shots (On Target): 11 (4) / 18 (8) Fouls: 17 / 12 Yellow Cards: 1 / 4
Match Info:Attendance: 15,224 (2,517 Travelling Rams).
Referee: Craig Pawson
Birmingham: Randolph (GK); Caddis, Thorpe (Martin 14’), Packwood, Blackett; Adeyemi (Burke 69’), Huws, Rusnak, Howard; Novak (Macheda 60’), Lovenkrands. Unused Subs: Doyle (GK), Brown, Reilly, Lee. Goals: Brian Howard (48),Christopher Burke (78),Federico Macheda (90 +3)
Derby: Grant (GK), Wisdom, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth, Eustace, Bryson, Hughes (Hendrick 75'), Ward, Bamford (Russell 78'), Martin. Unused Subs: Legzdins (GK), Whitbread, Sammon, Thorne, Dawkins. Goals: Patrick Bamford (49),Chris Martin (59),Craig Forsyth (73)
Match Video Highlights / Reaction:
Next Match:Derby vs. QPR 7:45pm - Monday 10th February The iPro Stadium Derbyshire
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