The Rams lacked a finisher and an organiser but did enough to earn a draw. Instead a moment of ridiculous refereeing set Derby on the road to their second straight defeat of the season.

Coventry City 2 v 0 Derby County

Ricoh Arena, Coventry

10th Of September 2011

14,219 (1,427 Rams fans who would like a word with Mr Foy)

Referee:

Chris Foy (St Helens, Lancs)

Teams:

Coventry City:

Murphy (Dunn 46), Keogh, Hussey, Klingon, Bell, Baker, Jutkiewicz, McDonald (O’Donovan 76), Craine, Christie, Bigirmana.

Unused Subs: McSheffrey, Cameron, Thomas.

Derby County:

Fielding, Brayford, Shackell, O’Brien, Kilbane, Croft (Robinson 68), Hendrick, Bryson, Davies B, Ward, Davies S (Maguire 80)

Unused Subs: Legzdins, Anderson, Roberts

Match Stats: Coventry - Derby

Possession: 55% - 45%

Shots On Target: 8 - 7

Shots Off Target: 3 - 6

Corners: 7 - 8

Fouls: 12 - 10

Most Fouls: Jutkiewicz (4) - Ward (3)

Old One-Eye’s Match Report:

Spineless Rams Left to Regret Missed Chances

An ancient Arabian proverb states that “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Bearing that supposed universal truth in mind, no-one should be surprised by anything that Mr Chris Foy, the referee for Saturday’s encounter between The Sky Blues and The Rams, ever does on a football pitch.

At the end of last season, his basic level of refereeing during the game between Arsenal and Manchester United was so poor that Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson were actually united in their joint condemnation of everything from his decisions through to his hairstyle. That’s a first, because if Sir Alex sees a black cat, Arsene sees a white one occupying the same position in four-dimensional space-time. If one says the sun will come up tomorrow, the other would demand a second opinion.

More of Mr Foy later – let’s discuss the game. Coventry had suffered a dreadful start to the season, failing to score in their two previous home games and having turned victory into defeat during injury time at Selhurst Park, whereas Derby had startled the world with their best start to a campaign since God knows when, only for normal service to be resumed a fortnight ago at home to Burnley.

Derby opened quite brightly, and in the very first minute Steve Davies flashed a drive across the face of the goal but there was no-one anywhere near getting on the end of it. The home side seemed content to feel their way cagily into the contest, content to retain possession without really venturing forward.

A good ball by Jeff Hendrick found John Brayford deep in the Coventry half, but the full backs cross was deflected behind. From the resultant corner, Kevin Kilbane and ball came together in about as much empty space as you would find in the average Nottingham Forest crowd, but the header sailed harmlessly over the bar when it appeared easier to score.

Jason Shackell’s no-nonsense defending thwarted one Coventry attack at the expense of a corner, and when Clingan found Lukas Jutkiewicz free at the far post, his header too was wasted.

The Rams were failing to pick up any loose balls in midfield, whereas Carl Baker was beginning to pull the strings for the home side, although Derby momentarily threatened when Lee Croft almost reeled in a through ball from Craig Bryson. Predictably, he lost possession at the vital moment.

As the first half started to wind down, Derby enjoyed their best spell of pressure so far with Croft and Jamie Ward failing to get on the end of Ben Davies centres, then when the same pair got into a tangle, a break by the home side ended with a sliced cross by Chris Hussey which had to be dealt with by Frank Fielding.

Derby had just about shaded the first half, but the old familiar failings were there for all to see.

For all the tireless running of Jamie Ward and Steve Davies, neither are the type of player who are going to dominate in the air against bigger, stronger defenders – and while there is no midfield ‘general’ capable of pulling the strings and driving at the heart of the defence before perhaps feeding the ball into the channels, they are not going to win much on the floor either.

Coventry made an enforced change at half time, introducing debutant keeper Chris Dunn for the injured Joe Murphy. Quite how Murphy had managed to injure himself during a first half where he had seen less action than the average Andy Warhol movie was hard to tell.

Two minutes after the restart, Derby seemed certain to take the lead when John Brayford burst through and fired a fierce drive goal wards. Dunn reacted sharply and somehow managed to deflect the ball over for a corner, which predictably The Rams wasted. At the other end, Brayford messed up a routine clearance and Kilbane scrambled the ball off the line after Jutkiewicz seemed certain to score.

The miss seemed to spur City on, and Jutkiewicz was inches wide following great work down the flank by Christie. Ward fluffed his shot from 12 yards out with only Dunn to beat, and then Fielding was forced to turn over a dipping shot by Baker. The corner was cleared by Shackell, before Mr Foy saw an offence which no-one else in the stadium spotted and awarded the Sky Blues a penalty.

The spot-kick changed the entire complexion of the game, because frankly it had nil-nil written all over it with neither side seemingly capable of unlocking the defences and producing the un-missable chance that even the collective ineptitude of the 22 players on display would have been hard-pressed to spurn.

Jutkiewicz fired home from the spot and the relief for the home team and fans alike was palpable.

Keogh produced a thunderous challenge to prevent Bryson bursting clear as the heavens opened and made the already slick pitch quicker still. This perhaps prompted Derby boss Nigel Clough to introduce speedster Theo Robinson, or perhaps he just did it for comedy value. As it was, bless him, Theo failed to disappoint, running the ball out of play quicker than anyone thought possible.

With ten minutes to go, Coventry put the game to bed. A long throw by Cyrus Christie was only helped into the path of Baker lurking just inside the box, and his acrobatic volley left Fielding clutching air as the net billowed. It was fitting that Derby’s attempts to restart the game were twice thwarted by Coventry players encroaching into the centre circle.

There was still time for Jason Shackell to miss a clear opportunity to peg one back for the visitors, but it would have been far more than Derby’s dreadfully timid second-half performance had deserved.

The game ended with The Rams desperately bombing high balls into the box to nobody in particular except increasingly dominant Coventry defenders.

Old One-Eye's Man of the Match:

Carl Baker – dominated midfield.

Manager’s Reaction:

After the match Nigel regretted missed opportunities and the choice of referee:

"The performance was consistent, as it has been over the last few weeks, we knocked the ball about well at times but we didn't score when the chances came our way.”

"Coventry edged it early on but we settled after that and we looked dangerous, especially on the break, and we were disappointed not to be ahead by half-time with the chances we had.”

"In fact, we've lost our last two matches now and not done too much different in them compared to the first four matches. The one thing we do need to work on is that bit of quality to get a goal when we are on top, like today."

"There wasn't too much in it at that point and I think we'd had the better of the chances, although Coventry had just had one or two themselves a few minutes before."

"Having seen the replay on the DVD we don't think it was a foul by Jason, but we all know games in the Championship can be won and lost by fine margins and today has been an example of that."

"We've got a big game coming up (the upcoming Forest clash) and you don't need to get the players up for a game like that. After two defeats in a row it is a great game to bounce back in and hopefully we can put in a similar performance to today, but just add that bit of quality in the final third."

Next Match:

Nottingham Forest vs. Derby County

1pm – Saturday 17th September

Photo: Action Images

Paddymac added 20:43 - Sep 11 I have been a Ram supporter since 1961 and am very proud of it A bad ref decision cost us at least a point on Sat No Penalty But we do need more firepower up front I am delighted we have Kevin Kilbane although he should have scored on Sat
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