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The Weston Report: Rams Biblical Football Casts Wolves Asunder!
Monday, 10th Nov 2014 06:55 by Ryan Weston

I’m going to write a petition to the Football League, asking if all of our remaining home games can be played at 12:15pm.

On the way to arguably the most important game of the season to date, I remarked that in each of our last two ‘early’ kick offs at home, we had scored five. Never did I think that this too would be a rout. Wolves, so we were led to believe, ‘don’t concede goals’ and, ‘keep excellent possession.’

Perhaps the team that turned up were Forest in disguise as we produced our best display of the campaign so far - in front of the TV cameras - to storm back to the Championship summit.

The signs were there during our midweek victory that we may have been returning to some kind of form. Nevertheless, predicting five goals inside the first hour against a team sitting in the play-off positions would have returned serious dough at the bookmakers.

Making only one change from the win against Huddersfield, with Dawkins replacing Ibe, McClaren kept faith with Mascarell and Shotton in the two most hotly contested spots.

After squeezing in a late-morning light ale and having resisted the urge to back us scoring five, (I’m still crying) I took position to witness a moving tribute to those fallen to honour Remembrance weekend.

The teams emerged and a minutes silence was impeccably observed, the only sound the eerie driving rain descending on the iPro. That and a couple of moronic Wolves fans who, ‘didn’t know’ about the silence coming up the stairs. Of course, stadiums are always deathly quiet come kick off time… anyhow, we were ready.

Quite what McClaren said remains a mystery but we shot out of the blocks quicker than Usain Bolt in London. The lashing rain made for conducive passing, the Rams looking sharp from the off.

A corner came to nought, before Martin was fouled, allowing Mascarell to swing in a free-kick from thirty-yards, which Shotton headed just over.

The gaps in between the lines of defence that had eluded us in recent weeks were already returning and what was more pleasing was the high-pressing game we were employing. After a dominant first quarter of an hour, we had our rewards.

More good pressing saw Dawkins released on the left before he was hauled down by Doherty, resulting in a booking for the Wolves man. In a similar position to the free-kick headed over minutes before, the deadly combination of Mascarell and Shotton combined again, this time the latter flicking a header goal wards. Despite the best efforts of Ikeme in goal, his Stretch-Armstrong impression could only divert the ball onto the inside of the post and over the line.

The goal seemed to spark our visitors into life. Having been as threatening as a mouse in a lion’s den for twenty minutes, there was finally a threat from their key man Sako. First he fired over from a well-worked corner before there really should have been an equaliser.

Playing out well from the back, Dawkins took too long in a dangerous area and was dispossessed. The ball was worked to Sako whose reverse ball set Ricketts free. His cut-back found Saville in the middle of goal, with time to pick his spot. Indeed he did, past the post and in the North Stand. A let off!

Sako was starting to grow into the game, skidding a speculative effort wide of Butland’s post soon after. The noticeable thing was that the ‘winger’ was roaming all over trying to get possession, which was allowing Christie and Russell space to roam. With Wolves coming back into the game, we sent them away from the door with number two.

Martin won a throw-in on the right-flank, which was hurled long to Dawkins in the middle. His clever chest-down found Hendrick - who only had one thing on his mind. Taking a touch to move the ball onto his right-foot, the Irishman smashed a low drive flying past Ikeme from twenty-five yards. Wet pitch, skidding surface, only one result.

The atmosphere moved up a notch as our play carried on being a joy to watch. On countless occasions, our harrying off the ball caused Wolves to knock the ball out of play, Leon Clarke up front showing as much link-up, as a jigsaw with a hundred pieces missing. Our pace and movement was constantly too much, causing a couple of big bad Wolves to go into the referees notebook.

With the iPro jumping, the foundations almost came down with number three.

Russell was released into the box by a lovely pass from Hughes. Bearing down on goal left-footed, Johnny’s effort was deflected up…and over Ikeme… but just over the bar.

With the crowd singing his name, Super Johnny immediately made it three. Mascarell’s corner found Keogh at the back stick, the skipper heading back across goal towards Forsyth. Well won by a Wolves head, the ball dropped to Russell on the edge of the box. Showing the touch of a scared rabbit, Johnny’s chest control somehow bounced three yards away without a challenge inside the box, with the Scot not believing his luck; he lashed into the corner for number three.

With the crowd baying for blood, we set about not only chasing the Wolves from the door but into the next county.

Another Mascarell corner caused chaos, this time Hendrick flicked on agonizingly too much for Keogh, who would have had a tap-in. Next, Dawkins was felled on the edge of the box, where Martin took aim from the free-kick, whipping just over.

Finally, the referee took pity on the team pinned against the ropes and stopped the content, albeit for half-time.

The normal nonsense of not letting them score early, nothing sloppy etc.. etc... was spouted during the break, but there was as much chance of me winning the lottery than the Rams letting this one slip. Somewhat surprisingly, Wolves replaced a defender with a defender at half-time, akin to replacing a leaking tap with another.

Ten minutes passed without any real incident, the Rams continuing to dominate the midfield and negating the threat of Sako who was hell-bent on doing it all himself.

Soon enough though, there was the absolute knock-out blow, the sort of goal which even gets Forest sympathiser Gary Birtles waxing lyrical on commentary!

Our, ‘third man’ runner had been causing Wolves problems all game and so it proved again. Mascarell won the ball, Dawkins passed to Hendrick who fed Martin. Continuing his run towards the box, Jeff saw Martin pass to Hughes, then a superb reverse pass from the youngster found its way back into his path. Providing the finish that the move deserved, the Irishman coolly slipped the ball into the corner as the iPro went wild.

There followed a five minute spell of pure dominance. Rumours that Hughes, Hendrick and Mascarell went to church in the morning haven’t been confirmed, but the football was biblical and all were singing from the same hymn sheet. One particular piece of skill from Mascarell led to noises from some parts of the iPro - normally reserved for a late night in the bedroom!

A brief interlude saw Clarke’s shot from the edge of the box hit Keogh and spin against the outside of the post but it was a surprise to no-one that it was soon five.

Martin pinged a ball to Forsyth on the left-wing. Driving forwards, the left-back produced a quality whipped ball into the middle. Evading probable target Dawkins, the ball found Russell arriving at the back-post to cleverly steer the ball in first time on his wrong foot. There was even a summersault in celebration to finish as the clock only ticked to an hour.

The only surprise then was that there were no more goals. It was not however for the want of trying in what was one of the most enjoyable half-hour spells I have had at Pride Park.

In fairness, Wolves continued to huff and puff but couldn’t blow our house down, or even find a goal. First, Saville headed agonizingly wide following a cross from the right, before Butland showed good hands to deny the same man from the edge of the box.

With our cigars out and slippers on, the atmosphere continued to be great, with the Wolves fans deserving immense credit for staying vocal and adding to the occasion. At one point, there were echoes of the Premier League season, ‘let’s pretend we’ve scored a goal’ giving me horrendous flashbacks to a 0-6 reverse against Aston Villa.

This though was a new Derby County. You know it’s a good day when even the West Stand starts singing!

Shortly before Dawkins was replaced by Ibe, there was a downpour that sent even Paul Simpson, a man who wears shorts in minus temperatures, scurrying for cover. Nothing could dampen the mood though and substitute Jordan Ibe soon had a chance to make it six, driving forwards before hitting a shot as wayward as my tee-shots on the golf course.

After shunning a couple of chances to shoot for his hat-trick in favour of passing, Johnny was replaced by Calero and left the field to rapturous applause.

As the play ticked down and the banter between the fans died out, save for the entire South Stand playfully mocking every Wolves attack, the somewhat elusive sixth looked like it wouldn’t come. That was until Coutts entered in stoppage time, replacing Mascarell whose new chants accompanied the crowd’s appreciation for his efforts.

After seeing a corner cleared and Ibe lose the ball, Coutts tried to curl past Ikeme, only to see his shot well-parried. The ball ended up going straight out to Christie, who tried to smash the net with number six. Instead, Cyrus picked out someone in the upper-tier. Being a member of the right-back union myself, it was certainly a finish which you would expect!

And that was that.

A very impressive message sent out to the watching Championship pack. More or less the complete display, especially in the midfield where our visitors didn’t have a sniff.

A penny for the thoughts of Mr Bryson after watching that!

The international break has definitely come at the wrong time. On saying this, with Bryson, Grant and Ward all possibly fit to face Watford in two weeks time; the gaffer is going to have one serious selection headache.

Luckily for Macca - he has plenty of time to get the paracetamol ready for the job at hand.

For now, we’re Derby County; we’re top of the league!


Weston’s Player Ratings

Jack Butland — 8: Possibly his last and best game for the Rams. Distribution much better and handling looked assured.

Cyrus Christie — 8: Dealt with the threat of Sako well and got forwards like we know he can. Should have buried his chance at the end!

Richard Keogh — 7: Had Clarke in his back pocket and coped with everything well.

Ryan Shotton — 8: Probably his best game for Derby. Much more assured with ball at his feet and a good goal.

Craig Forsyth — 8: Really good defensively and played a quality ball in for the 5th goal… was probably meant for Dawkins but we won’t mention that!

Omar Mascarell — 9:Another who produced his best display in a Derby shirt. Passed the ball effortlessly, tackled well when needed and knitted it all together. Brilliant!

Jeff Hendrick — 9: The Jeff Hendrick we know and love. Powerful, good off the ball and two great goals.

Will Hughes — 8: The third member of the midfield trio to have a brilliant game. Superb reverse pass to release Hendrick for 4th goal.

Simon Dawkins — 7: Lively, caused problems and assisted Hendrick’s opener.

Johnny Russell - 9Another superb display. Two well taken goals and just looks to be enjoying his football.

Chris Martin — 7: Will have been disappointed not to join the party but linked up very well.

Subs:

Jordan Ibe — 7: Always a threat, final ball lacked but who cares!

Ivan Calero — 6: Came on in slippers.

Paul Coutts -6: Came on with a cigar!


Match Info / Teams:

Ref: G.Salisbury

Crowd: 30,398


Rams: Butland, Christie, Keogh, Shotton, Forsyth, Mascarell (Coutts 90’), Hughes, Hendrick, Russell (Calero 84’), Dawkins (Ibe 75’), Martin.

Unused Subs: Roos, Eustace, Buxton, Best.

Goals: Shotton (16’), Hendrick (28’ & 55’) Russell (42’ & 61’)


Wolves: Ikeme, Doherty, Batth, Ebanks-Landell, Ricketts, Saville, McDonald, Henry, Evans, Sako, Clarke.

Subs: Stearman, Rowe, Van La Parra, McAlinden, Jacobs, Kuszczak, Dicko.


Match Stats — Rams / Wolves:

Possession: 51% / 49%

Shots On Target: 6 / 2

Shots Off Target: 10 / 9

Corners: 9 / 4

Fouls: 13 / 14


We Said / They Said - Match Reaction:

We Said — Steve McClaren:

"I don't often sit there and enjoy the full aspects of games but today I did. The team worked so hard even at 5-0 up and the key thing was the discipline they showed and looking a good team without the ball.”

"It was a game we controlled by being a good team without the ball and that's what really pleased me. To do that to a very good team shows what this group is capable of doing. That was a complete performance."


They said — Kenny Jackett:

"As a unit defensively we were poor today and that was the difference.”

"The fact is we have played Ipswich away and Derby away this week and we've come up short in both games. I think they are a good yardstick, very good teams who have aspirations of trying to get into the Premier League and we have to make sure that when we come out again we are of the standard of these clubs.”

"Derby were ruthless today and it's been a good lesson for us this week and one we have to learn and learn very quickly."


Highlights / Post Match Interviews:







Up Next For The Rams:

Watford vs. Derby

3:00pm - Sat 22nd November 2014


COYR!!




Photo: Action Images



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