What I.Saw: End To End Kamikaze Football Leaves Playoff Dreams Intact
Monday, 20th Apr 2015 13:58 by I.Saw

Huddersfield, John Smith's Stadium, walking on sunshine. A brilliant day. Outside.

Inside, programmes newspaper style, a dÃ©jÃ view "Ram". Only two pounds, a bargain destined for "fish & chips ".

Row A, welcome to unimpeded views. Knee caps a specialty.

Team news, Simon Dawkins dropped, Will Hughes in, Jesse Lingard starts, no Chris Martin, no Raul Albentosa, Johnny Russell on the bench.

Game underway, we stood in the shade, we chilled as the Rams tested the Terriers, we had the slower start.

Craig Bryson caught a heavy challenge, he hobbled until Dawkins was warmed up. Eight minutes gone. Change made we dominated.

Dawkins, quick feet, ball moving quickly, Tom Ince found. Direct run, blistering shot, goal. We lead, it's deserved.

We continue to dominate, it's a question of how many. We don't increase our lead. Instead Zak Whitbread stretches and pulls up. It's a terminal injury, he departs, Cyrus Christie comes on and Ryan Shotton plays centre defence.

Defence is a shambles, diagonal balls between full back and centre half kill us.

Huddersfield angle the ball in, Oscar Goburn chests the ball down, and slots the ball past Lee Grant in the Derby goal. We appeal for handball, it's a vain hope, the failing hope of substandard defending.

Being level we shrink further.

A simple corner, number four unmarked, a header down, a bounce, a goal, Mark Hudson with the simplest goal of his career. Richard Keogh goes apesh*t, but then who had the man?

As the half ended, young left back Reece James swung in a corner, Christie and Grant both went for the ball, was there a clip? It mattered not as the net rippled and the home team raced into a 3-1 lead at half time.

In the stands we despaired, trailing by two goals, defending that to suggest was schoolboy-ish, would be an insult to those still in education.

Whatever was said at half time worked, the Rams came out with a purpose. We set about the Terriers.

They had the ball in the net again though but this time it was a foul on our keeper Grant that spared our blushes.

Stephen Warnock on the overlap, a low cross into the box and a Dawkins flick found the back of the net, 3-2 we had a game on.

Steve McClaren animated on the touch line, ranted raved and urged the players on. In return you couldn't fault the desire of most on the pitch.

End to end kamikaze football saw the Rams watch the ball hit the back of their net for the fifth time, luckily a raised flag ruled the effort out for offside.

At the other end Lingard, tucked the ball away with style and the scores were level at three all.

We expected a victory, the game had turned…

Surely…

Err no…

Shotton unfortunately gave the ball away in an unforced error as he sought out Hughes. A brief flurry of shots before finally Nahki Wells's bouncing effort beat Grant and put the home side back in front.

Johnny Russell replaced the ineffectual Hughes and we pressed again.

Ince added his second to make it four all and all that was left was the obligatory melee as both sides fought for all three points.

It wasn't too be. A draw a fair result.

The Rams applauded off the field and, after the teams had gone, a resounding "There's Only One Chrissie Powell" from the travelling fans showed our respect for the former Derby County favourite.

Relieved we left the roller coaster with our play off dreams intact. Our nightmare defence needs sorting though and too many players contributed little, Hughes and Bent especially.

The overall feeling was that we were firing on only three cylinders yet again, much will depend on our timing as we hit those final games.

Match Info / Rams Team:

Ref: Dean Whitestone

Crowd: 15,889

Derby: Grant, Shotton, Keogh, Whitbread (Christie 27’), Warnock, Hendrick, Bryson (Dawkins 9’), Hughes (Russell 79’), Ince, Lingard, Bent.

Unused Subs: Roos, Sammon, Ward, Forsyth.

Match Stats — Huddersfield / Derby:

Goals: Gobern 38’ Hudson 41, James 45’, Wells 72’ / Ince 16’&79’, Dawkins 52’, Lingard 61’

Possession: 44% / 56%

Shots On Target: 6 / 5

Shots Off Target: 12 / 5

Corners: 8 / 2

Fouls: 14 / 7

We Said / They Said - Match Reaction:

We Said — Steve McClaren:

"We are crawling over the line and we don't make it easy for ourselves. For the neutrals it was great, for the managers it was a nightmare and for the fans it had ups and downs.”

"We need one more win and that's our only focus - but the way we are defending at the moment, anyone could beat us. We are not in a good condition but we are scrapping."

They said — Chris Powell:

"People say we have nothing to play for but the players showed they care about this club and their own performances.”

”It's a shame we didn't get the three points our first-half performance warranted but we are building for the future. We can do better and that's the message I will be getting through to the players."