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Stuart Says: Derby Still Top - But I'm Taking Nothing For Granted!
Tuesday, 28th Oct 2014 06:00 by Stuart Hughes

After going top of the Sky Bet Championship with victories at Reading & Blackpool, Derby came unstuck at home as Wigan Athletic took the spoils with a 2-1 victory.

Wigan Athletic started the day in 19th place and most Rams fans were expecting Derby County to add another victory and extend that unbeaten run. The problem with unbeaten runs is that they always come to an end at some point and Wigan Athletic were always going to be a tough opponent. Wigan finished 5th last season, reaching the play-offs, and also took all three points from the iPro last season.

Back in January they did a job on Derby County, harrying us, closing us down, not allowing us time on the ball, basically stopping us from playing our passing game. This time they did exactly the same, even forcing Jack Butland to kick long (wastefully) by closing down our centre-backs as they spread wide looking for the short ball from the goalkeeper.

But we didn’t lose just because of Wigan manager Uwe Rosler’s tactics and game plan. Derby County were second best from the off. In the opening quarter of an hour the Rams struggled to get the ball out of their own half and were pressed back. Wigan worked hard, but they were more expansive and attacked far more readily than they did last season.

Derby County had ridden their luck somewhat against Reading and Blackpool and rode their luck also in the first half against Wigan as well. Quite how we went in at half-time leading 1-0 I’m not sure. Butland made a brilliant save to deny James Tavernier’s penalty. Moments later John Eustace swept a Johnny Russell free-kick into the back of the net.

Our manager clearly wasn’t happy with what he’d seen. On came Jeff Hendrick and Simon Dawkins for Will Hughes and Jordan Ibe and Steve McClaren admitted after the game that he could’ve replaced any of eight or nine players.

The disappointing thing for me was that having got ourselves in front just before the halftime whistle, we had the break to regroup for the second half, and we started the second half brightly with both substitutes having a positive impact. We really should’ve seen the game out to take at least a point.

But we shot ourselves in the foot. Shortly after a scramble in Wigan’s penalty area had seen Hendrick hit the post, we conceded a goal out of nothing, when James McClean equalised.

After that Wigan took the ascendancy and always looked the more likely to score. Which they did when McClean seized on Derby’s failure to clear their lines by grabbing his second goal of the game. How ironic given that McClean was a transfer target of McClaren’s during the summer.

Derby County have lost just three league games at home during the calendar year 2014 and two of those have been against Wigan Athletic. Hopefully Rosler will keep the secret of how to win at the iPro (Pride Park) Stadium to himself and not share it with other Championship managers.

Unbelievably though, a check of other results after the game revealed that Derby County remained on top of the league table, albeit ahead of Watford and Wolverhampton Wanderers on goal difference. Clear evidence, as if we needed it, of how tight and competitive the Sky Bet Championship is.

2nd placed Watford and 3rd placed Middlesbrough played out a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road. 5th placed Norwich City drew 0-0 at Sheffield Wednesday. 6th placed Nottingham Forest conceded three goals in 11 minutes against Blackburn Rovers to throw away a 1-0 halftime lead at the City Ground. 7th placed Charlton Athletic lost 2-0 at Fulham.

Wolverhampton Wanderers were the only winners in the top seven as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Elland Road — a result that saw Leeds United sack their second manager of the season.

Now Derby County face two away games and, hopefully, the Rams will be able to put this disappointment out of their system and start another unbeaten run.

First up are Fulham and an opportunity to progress to the Quarter-Final of the Carling Cup. Before the Wigan game I would’ve said that McClaren would rest his key players, utilising the fringe squad players, but now I’m not so sure. He may opt to give his key players an opportunity to get the poor performance against Wigan out of their system.

Our next league game is away to Brentford who are 13th in the Sky Bet Championship following their promotion from League One last season. While the Rams were losing to Wigan, Brentford went down 3-1 against Bolton Wanderers. Neither team will want to lose two on the bounce so it promises to be another tough fixture.

Many Rams fans will say Brentford will be an easy three points for the Rams because our opponents were in League One last season but we all know the Championship doesn’t work like that. And the last thing Derby County can afford now is complacency.

Under McClaren, Derby County have had disappointing results in the past, shrugged them off, and gone on another good run.

As Rams fans we will learn a lot about the character of Derby County’s players this week starting at Fulham tonight and then Brentford on Saturday.

I will next see the Rams play in three games time when we host Huddersfield Town.

I’m hoping Derby County will still be top of the league by then but I’m taking nothing for granted.


Stuart Hughes is a local writer - to read more of his work visit:

www.stuarthughes.webs.com




Photo: Action Images



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