Well. Where to start? That old cliché again; a week is a long time in football.
And what a week. A week during which promises were broken, our gaffer was sacked and we entrusted our academy director to deliver the goal. A goal of getting back to, ‘the Derby way?
What is… ‘The Derby way’?
Sacking a manager after only 8 months in the job, during which time chucking £25m at a squad of players that he wanted and still only being 5 points off the top of the league?
Mr Morris has made his decision and as a fans and supporters we’ll have to live by it.
For my money, Clement can count himself unlucky. On the other hand, performances and selection were starting to decline. The Championship, or something else? We know Mel’s answer.
We are not privy to what goes on behind closed doors but a chairman entering the dressing room always tends to spell danger. Clement didn’t heed the warning.
And that was Monday. Fast forwards through the week; Keogh reinstated captain, lots of happy, smiley training ground pictures. Searching for Sam Rush.
Oh yes, and there was a football match… do I really have to tell you?
I wanted and fully expected us to come out, guns blazing, full of intent. Keogh beating his chest, Johnson breathing fire, Buxton smashing bricks on his head! We didn’t get it…
We did at least get a change in formation, with Russell somewhat strangely paired with Martin up top and Ince and Johnson on the wings. Bryson made his first home start of the season, Olsson his home debut.
New regime, new formation. An abject start. Despite being untroubled at the back, we had trouble causing the Dons any trouble going forward in the early going.
Bryson’s looping free-kick landed on the top of the net, but any hopes of a fast start soon evaporated into what was a strange atmosphere. Russell then felt he should have had a penalty after being blocked off by Baldock in the box. An appeal made more in hope than expectation.
It soon became apparent that any free-flowing, vintage Derby football was not to be forthcoming. Instead, far too many balls were tossed high towards the front two, with little effect. Was this the Derby way?
Still, we were by far and away the better side. You couldn’t help feeling that the Derby team of a year ago would have filled their boots against a spirited but low on quality visiting side. Instead that visiting side went close when Hall’s free kick could have given them a shock lead, but landed just wide.
After half an hour (yes, really), we had our first real chance. Christie’s delicious cross from the right was missed by Ince, with an attempt that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Royal Ballet. Johnson eventually crashed the resulting chance over.
If that was a good opportunity, what followed was straight out the, ‘my mum would have got that,’ category. Winning a free kick on the left, Hendrick, the third set-piece taker following Bryson and Russell’s earlier efforts that came to naught, swung in a deep centre. Shackell found himself on the end of it, with the freedom of Derby to nod in and settle the tangible nerves, Jason instead headed to a ball-boy behind the goal. Head in hands. And that was just me.
As the half ended, we started to threaten. First, Hendrick, our most impressive player in the opening half, let fly from 25 yards, his left footed effort beaten away by ex-Ram loanee David Martin. With the crowd still rejoicing from a shot on target, we recorded another. Chris Martin received a throw on the left, spun and shot on the turn, only to see his effort rather too spectacularly saved by his namesake.
Half time. Not the half we expected, but surely we’d go on and beat these?
Surely?
The early signs were good. First, Olsson’s cross saw Johnson head goalwards only to see his attempt come off a defender and then head the rebound into the side netting. Next, Ince, who was on the periphery of the contest, showed us what he can do, when he can be bothered. Combining with Russell on the right, he beat his man, cut on his left foot before whistling a shot just wide of the far post.
Talking of the periphery of the contest, that is where Bryson had found himself for the majority and it was no surprise to see him replaced by Butterfield. There was still little cohesion though, with most of our attacking play coming from the sheer endeavour of Johnson and Olsson on the left.
As the game progressed, you just got a feeling. The visitors had come for a point, had time-wasted from early on and the referee was more than obliging in letting them get away with it.
We were struggling to get in behind a side with one away win in fifteen to date this campaign. Seeing this, Wassall brought on the Rams new striker, a chap by the name of Darren Bent.
With fifteen minutes to go, Butterfield twisted and turned and struck hard and true, only to see the ball whistle wide. Weimann replaced Hendrick as formation seemed to go out of the window. If anyone looked likely to nick a late goal though, it was the Rams.
That was before the last ten minutes, when the Dons realised they could take full advantage of their wounded opponents. After forcing a corner, the delivery was spilled by Carson, who reacted well to save from Revell. A playground-esque scramble was hacked away and found Weimann, who had plenty of lush green grass in front of him to run in to. You will have to ask him why he chose to cut back inside, lose the ball and put us back in trouble. Fatal trouble as it transpired.
Butterfield felled Hall right on the edge of the box. As Forster-Caskey licked his lips and lined up the delivery, you just knew what was coming. A pearler. Up. Down. In.
Finally, we showed some urgency, but it was too little, too late. Ince, much to the annoyance of the vast majority in the stadium, tried his luck from 30 yards. At least his pea roller was on target.
If we were snatch an equaliser, the source was undoubtedly be Olsson, who was bombing up and down the left wing like an express train. With time against us, the Swede’s superb cross found Ince unmarked at the back post. As if to sum up his afternoon, he screwed his effort off his shin and behind. As I turned away in disgust, I caught the eye of the guy behind. His shake of the head spoke volumes.
Yet, we kept going, well at least Olsson did. Another fantastic delivery this time found Weimann unmarked but he picked a bad time to show us the skills that he picked up while at Villa, with his header sailing miles wide.
Five minutes of added time. Five minutes to watch the Dons scrap, fight and battle to keep us out.
Full time.
Boos, whistles and utter disbelief.
No permanent gaffer. No wins in seven. No goals in the last three home games.
Suddenly, the Premier League looks a long way away.
Scott Carson — 6: A spectator for the most part but no chance with goal.
Cyrus Christie — 6: No real final ball from good positions.
Richard Keogh — 6: The new (old) skipper looked assured.
Jason Shackell — 6: Solid but still not good in possession.
Marcus Olsson — Weston’s Star Man 8: Superb delivery and endeavour, just a shame no one was there to finish.
Craig Bryson — 6: Great to see him back out there at home, but couldn’t get into the game.
Jeff Hendrick — 7: Provided energy, particularly in the first half.
Bradley Johnson — 6: Better than recently but still not the man we saw at the start of the season.
Johnny Russell — 6:Cannot fault his work rate but a surprise to see him up top.
Tom Ince — 5: Patience is getting very , very thin with him now. Tired of his poor body language and lack of desire.
Chris Martin — 6:Will he ever score again?
Subs:
Jacob Butterfield — 6: Should have started.
Darren Bent — 6:Delighted to see him come on, now he needs service.
Andreas Weimann — 5:Played like he had the wrong boots on 5
We said - Darren Wassall:
"We are disappointed with the result but we are certainly not disappointed with the performance or the attitude and application of the players. The players in the dressing room are certainly not disappointed with their performance. I'm absolutely delighted with all of them and have been since Tuesday.
"It's not the way any of us wanted to start today but we take the positives. We dominated possession and just needed a bit of luck in front of goal."
They said - Karl Robinson:
"That's one of the best results in the club's history, away from home. "We were the underdogs today, I don't think anyone would have come here and said we would win. We had to relinquish our pride a little bit from what my teams are known to do but we were the paupers in this fixture today and are not as good to an extent on paper as Derby County."
Darren Wassall was happy after the match despite the loss.
COYR!!