It’s over. Eleven victories, one draw, our run, it’s over.

Yesterday we lost at Leeds, we lost to the better team, we lost without trying and that hurts.

Elland Road, decked out in empty blue and yellow seats, just over half full, whilst we, the away fans are squished into a sold out section of the West Stand and at £36 a pop it’s a bitter and expensive pill to swallow.

Derby, all blue, Lee Grant back for the departing Butland started strongly, we stroked the ball around and like royalty we waited to be feigned upon.

We waited for all of ten minutes, passing, moving, pretty patterns. Chris Martin had an opportunity but he dillyed and dallied and lost his way.

Whilst we exhibited pomp, “Up Yours” was the response from the home team. And rightly so. They started to show their mettle, they fought they closed down, feet flew, studs showed and they won the ball.

We, we dipped out of challenges, we abhorred the rough stuff. You have to earn the right to play football especially in the Championship. We earned nothing against Leeds.

We had not a single meaningful shot on target; we tried to walk the ball through a solid white wall. A solid white wall that regularly had been featured on TV as error prone.

When we finally shot it was high and wide. McClaren said afterward “we wouldn’t have scored if we had been playing till midnight". You couldn't argue with him other than to say a week on midnight might have been closer.

Leeds scored either side of half time, both goals came from poor defending, crosses not cut out and balls rolled across the penalty area for Mirco Antenucci to finish with aplomb, the first an almost open net, the second although similar in chance was a much harder finish beating two defenders and the goalkeeper as he billowed the corner of the net.

So two nil down, not being allowed to play our regal game some of our players rolled their sleeves up and battled.

Cyrus Christie ended a mazy run by being upended on the edge of the box; the officials pondered and amidst protests gave a free kick on the outside of the area rather than a penalty.

Being directly in line to me it looked just inside but either way it was a close call. The call never came to Liam Cooper the defender who brought Christie down, just as well really as he had already been booked and the challenge surely worthy of a second yellow would have shortened his afternoon. Predictably the free kick came to nothing, a tame shot into the wall by Mascarell.

Johnny Russell was next in the book as he chased back and caught Adryan. Well caught is perhaps the wrong word, judging by the amount of rolling around in agony you’d have thought the Brazilian had been disembowelled and his guts were being reeled in by a fisherman in the stands. Sure enough Adryan went off, came straight back on without even a single limp, the power of the magic sponge eh.

The Rams tried a triple substitution, off went the ineffectual and seriously lightweight Jordon Ibe, off went Omar Mascarell & Russell, on came Simon Dawkins, Craig Bryson and youngster Kwame Thomas.

Bryson made the best chance of the day when clear through he rolled the ball into the path of Martin with an open goal beckoning only for the offspring of Neil Warnock to slide in and beat Martin to the ball, it came back to Bryson who then set up Thomas but the striker blasted his shot over the bar.

We lost. We lost to the better team. And I don’t mind that, what I do mind is losing without giving your all, without fighting for your cause.

Too many Derby players yesterday to my mind weren’t hurting they didn’t want it as much as we fans did.

Some ran away and hid. Not Chris Martin though... he walked.

I.Saw’s Player Ratings:

Grant — 7: Man of the match for me, some cracking saves he kept the margin down to two.

Christie — 6: Good going forward.

Keogh — 6 or 5 or 4: One minute Richard looks really good, then you wonder why they keep on scoring and where is he?

Shotton — 5: Poor positioning and dodgy distribution, not his best game.

Forsyth — 5: Anonymous.

Mascarell — 6: Kept trying but overwhelmed by the pace of the game and the lack of teammates actually showing and wanting the ball.

Hughes — 4: Leeds stopped Hughes playing, he had no answers other than to appeal to the referee, lost the ball for the second goal.

Hendrick — 5: staring to resemble Martin in work rate.

Russell — 6: Effort but little else.

Ibe — 3: Dipped out of 80/20 challenges in his favour. Poor,poor,poor.

Martin — 3: Got around the pitch superbly…. as he shook everybody's hand at the final whistle. More effort less moaning please Mr Martin you're not the King of anybody's Castle.

Subs:

Bryson — 7: Created more in thirty minutes than the rest of the game.

Thomas — 6: A little star struck perhaps, would like to see him start.

Dawkins — 5: Created little.

Match Info / Rams Team:

Ref: M. Russell

Crowd: 26,028

Derby: Butland, Christie, Keogh, Shotton, Forsyth, Mascarell (Bryson 66’), Hendrick, Hughes, Ibe (Dawkins 66’), Russell (Thomas 66’), Martin

Unused Subs: Roos, Buxton, Eustace, Coutts

Match Stats — Leeds / Derby:

Possession: 43% / 57%

Shots On Target: 5 / 0

Shots Off Target: 9 / 11

Corners: 5 / 6

Fouls: 18 / 6

We Said / They Said - Match Reaction:

We Said — Steve McClaren:

"It's just one of them days, a bad day at the office. We were below our best and when you're not at your best, you can be beaten.”

"I said before the game that if we were below our best this Leeds team could hurt us."

They said — Neil Redfearn:

"I thought we were excellent, they are a top side, you can see that. They caused us problems and it was a great game with two sides trying to play football. The finishing was out of the top drawer.”

"To me this is part of the progression. I think we have been playing well and have played well in games and not got what we've deserved. Today we did and the more we put these performances in the better we will get."

Highlights / Post Match Interviews:

Up Next For The Rams:

Derby vs. Brighton

iPro Stadium

3pm - Saturday 6th Of December

COYR!!

Photo: Action Images

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