Derby County had the benefit of a second week of relaxation and rehabilitation before a busy Championship schedule that would see them play three games in 11 days during the remainder of October.

Manager Nigel Clough continued to assess the availability of players as the club endeavoured to overcome the extensive squad depletion from injury problems. We are now habituated to a daily injury count and update, in what is turning out to be a season of ‘make do and mend’ - if only more of the players would mend rather more quickly!

Supporters began to comment that the daily run-down of injuries and club bulletins relaying of minutiae of recovery progress schedules are getting somewhat tedious. I can’t disagree.

Unwanted news came with the expectation that defender Shaun Barker could be missing for several weeks with a progressive muscle tear. As with other injuries to various players, the diagnosis and scan seemed inconclusive and the club had sought a second opinion. It could even be that Barker’s latest setback was a latent injury carried over from his Blackpool days.

That was Monday accounted for; Tuesday’s bulletin then brought yet more bad news. Everton striker James Vaughan’s loan spell at Derby was interrupted with a return to Goodison Park for treatment on a cartilage tear - and it was revealed that he will be out for six to eight weeks. That all but puts paid to his loan period at Pride Park Stadium.

Wednesday saw a little optimism with the expectation that Jake Buxton and Kris Commons would be fit for the Championship game at Leicester City on Saturday. Along with Dean Leacock, they were involved in the Rams’ reserves game against Port Vale. That game ended in a 1-1 draw and saw another injury occurrence when Ben Pringle was withdrawn with a knock.

Derby are currently suffering from a combination of bad luck, injury-prone players, poor injury diagnoses and an ineffectual rehabilitation regime. It seems that (pending other injuries that might crop up) we’ll only have any semblance of a full squad towards the end of the year.

Somehow, the club needs to be in a position to have a first-choice and then proper cover in every position; because of the perpetual injury crisis, we are nowhere near that objective for the time being. For Derby it is a question of balance in more ways than one: new injuries will hopefully abate and the recovering players will begin to add to Nigel Clough’s options.

Then it is a matter of Nigel trying to field a balanced side from those players available, so that he has enough experience and quality at his disposal to field a competent central defensive pairing and an effective strike partnership - not to mention enough speed, strength, stamina and guile in midfield to knit the components together. Collecting more points is a pressing priority.

I suspect it is also the case that Nigel is spending time in the first half of this season discovering that some of the players he gave another chance to are ultimately not up to the job. Some just cannot perform consistently or are of insufficient quality to figure in Derby’s rebuilding.

It is becoming evident that in fact there are only a half-dozen or so inherited players that are of any use to the manager; some more sick notes and inadequates need moving on. The other moment of balance in the equation is supporters suppressing their frustration to remain patient.

With such a catalogue of injury woes, manager Nigel Clough was seeking to use his final 2009 loan entitlement to find another fit striker. Wolves’ Sam Vokes was again linked with Derby in media stories; however, young striker Greg Mills was recalled early from his successful loan spell at Solihull Moors whilst his Rams’ Academy colleague Arnaud Mendy went on loan to Grimsby Town. Four goals in as many games at Solihull had put Mills in line for inclusion against Leicester.

Leicester City, the Rams’ opponents at their Theatre of Crisps on Saturday, had half a dozen fit strikers to choose from, including ex-Rams’ target man Steve Howard. Some Rams fans suggested that ex-Rams Matt Oakley and Steve Howard would be able to do a job for Derby again, given their current circumstances with the injury crisis!

The Foxes don’t have facilities like Moor Farm, or parachute payments, or billionaire backers but the depletion of Derby’s squad is beginning to make the Rams feel like poor relations of the East Midlands. The Foxes also had the inclination to offload Paul Dickov - deemed superfluous - to Derby on loan, the extreme irony being a clause preventing Dickov from lining up for Derby to face his ‘parent’ club on Saturday.

Derby’s personal hearing with the FA regarding the fracas as the end of the game against Nothingham Forest will be heard on October 22nd. Derby admitted their charges; Forest denied theirs, whilst the idiotic Nathan Tyson has admitted his charge of improper conduct.

BBC TV’s ‘Inside Out’ programme featured Peter Taylor’s family asserting that Clough’s wily assistant had been relatively ignored in tributes to the duo’s footballing achievements during their partnership. Rams fans can correctly point out that they have never forgotten Peter and will always acknowledge the contribution he made. Derby will honour Peter as well as Brian.

Going back to January 2008 when Ashley Wilkinson and Kalwinder Singh initiated a Clough statue petition, Peter Taylor was cited - and the club’s statue project (about which we’ve heard nothing for several months) will feature both Clough and Taylor, deservedly and rightly together.

I didn’t mention last week that the final two members of the ‘all-time greatest’ Rams’ team - as voted for by the fans - have now been selected. The club’s two greatest strikers, Steve Bloomer and (my all-time favourite Ram) Kevin Hector make up the strike partnership - justifiably so, with over 530 goals for Derby between them.
 
They were my choices too, as described some weeks ago; looking through the Rams’ history there are many other fantastic strikers and partnerships that all generations of Derby fans have been privileged to watch.

So, the Rams ‘all-time’ greatest XI, as voted by supporters, looks like this: Boulton; Webster, Nish, Stimac, McFarland; Eranio, Durban, Gemmill, Hinton; Bloomer, Hector. Well, I do think we should also be allowed to pick a ‘bench’ of seven substitutes, so here are mine - do join in with your selections! Shilton, Barrowcliffe, Todd, Mackay, Asanovic, Wanchope and Saunders. RamZoners - tell us your ‘super-benches’!

In the run-up to the Foxes’ clash, Robbie Savage reflected on his Leicester days and his renaissance under Nigel Clough. He recalled that this time last year, he was consigned by Paul Jewell to ‘training with the kids at 34 years old’ and looking to move to Brighton or even Bahrain…with Derby still picking up 95% of his wages. No wonder there is such a long way for this squad to go to make real progress!

Leicester plod-rock indie band Kasabian boasts a couple of Foxes fans in their ranks; on Football Focus, their guitarist Serge looked forward to the game but lived on his memories of the 1993-4 Wembley Division One play off final between the Foxes and Rams, wistfully adding that Leicester “haven’t really got a 'local derby' ”. Quite true; a nothing team in a nothing County.

Saturday arrived and manager Nigel Clough sprang some selection surprises. Sean Barker’s injury has responded unexpectedly well and he started alongside Dean Leacock, in what is potentially Derby’s best central defensive pairing. Kris Commons replaced Paul Dickov.

Maybe Derby’s injury crisis might work for them, opponents not expecting to play against certain players that are then declared fit. Surely Nigel wasn’t indulging himself in Fergie or Billy Davies - style injury kidology? Anyroadup, Derby desperately needed to sustain their recovery as seen against the Owls a fortnight ago, having won only one league point away from home in 2009/10.

Jake Buxton and young striker Gregg Mills were included on Derby’s 6-man substitute’s bench whilst Oakley and Howard did start for Leicester against their former club.  3,300 Rams fans in the near-29,000 crowd took their place as Derby started the game in 18th position in the Championship table. The fickle home fans, whose memories presumably don’t extend to his fighting contribution to the Foxes’ cause, booed Robbie Savage, who turned 35 this weekend.

Leicester started briskly with Derby trying to hold firm, Fryatt escaping offside (unflagged, of course) with Bywater thwarting him. Howard and Fryatt troubled Derby from the go but Commons was getting into the action for Derby when possible. He struck a 30-yarder to test City’s keeper Weale. Derby did not retain the ball though, and the Foxes continued to press.

The Rams needed to hold on until half time and to try and get in the game with some possession; their passes were mostly hurried or of poor quality and Leicester were well on top. Nevertheless, Derby went in 0-0 at the interval, at least an improvement on the Cardiff game.

The second half started in the same pattern with little quality in evidence from either team. Clough withdrew Croft, replacing him with Hendrie after an hour. Suddenly, Derby perked up and Kris Commons hit the bar with a drive. Hulse was then fouled by Hobbs inside the box but Premier League referee Mike Dean waved away penalty appeals.

Soon after, Morrison pushed Hulse off the ball in the area; nothing was awarded. The appalling refereeing standard observed this season was again in evidence with both incidents looking good penalty shouts. We will no doubt observe Mr Dean during the rest of the season on Match of the Day in Premier League games.

I expect him to award a spot-kick instantly when a star player at Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or The Emirates Stadium collapses in hair-trigger fashion when an opponent in the penalty area lightly brushes him. Headlines and controversy will then ensue, Fergie or Wenger will fume or smirk, but Championship gaffes by these ‘elite’ referees are disregarded.

However, if Derby felt badly done by the referee, those who saw the ridiculous ‘beach ball’ goal being allowed to stand in the Sunderland vs. Liverpool Premier League game would have been dumbfounded. How could all four officials be unaware of the rule that ‘outside interference' had occured and that the game should therefore have been halted?

Given the proposed expansion of the number of officials ‘controlling’ a game, it seems fatuous that there might soon be half a dozen officials and assistants making the same half-baked decisions in each match!

Of course, Derby’s injury curse had to strike again as well - and Fredrik Stoor had to be replaced by Paul Connolly on 75 minutes; at least we had a like-for-like substitute. Then, Hendrie was then withdrawn injured on 84 minutes (sigh) with McEveley being his substitute.

Derby gave as good as they got for the remainder of the game and Commons cut free in injury time but couldn’t get a shot away, and nothing came of a Savage free kick at the death. Derby took a welcome point from the 0-0 draw and it is a building block from the debacle at Cardiff.

Derby had spent plenty of time under the cosh during the game but the second half penalty incidents would have reasonably given Derby the chance of their first away win of the season. Manager Clough was pleased with Derby’s improved second half performance - and another clean sheet - and felt that Derby’s penalty claims were reasonable.

Another test awaits the Rams on Tuesday night with a trip to the Riverside Stadium to face inconsistent Middlesbrough. I say inconsistent but they have lost three home games on the trot (I hope I haven’t cursed Derby there!) Another away point, or even more, would not go amiss.

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In RamsWeek 42 last season, there was a ‘common thread’ as Kris Commons came on for Steve Davies as a substitute in Derby’s away game at Plymouth Argyle to thread a crucial pass through to centre forward Rob Hulse. Big Rob thumped the ball home to equalise at 1-1.

Later in the game, a Commons’ corner was steered goalwards by Paul Green, deflections ensuring that the ball ended up in the net. Paul Connolly, having had to wait for his chance since joining Derby from Plymouth, captained Derby’s against his old club. Derby took all three points to edge into the Championship top 10. Could the mini-revival last? Errm, nope - sorry!

Two Norfolk Parliamentary busybodies initiated a furore over an alleged betting scandal that might have affected the outcome of a recent Norwich City vs. Derby County Championship match. Some far-eastern betting scams had been uncovered in various sports; ultimately, there was nothing to answer by the Canaries or Rams and the MPs could get back to the vital matter of erroneously filling in their expense claims.

The Rams initiated a link-up with USA outfit Michigan Wolves-Hawks. There was to be particular emphasis on sharing Academy knowledge and methods, with Derby providing financial and technical support - and Michigan’s Academy team was renamed the Derby County Wolves.

Stephen Pearson was ruled out for four months with a knee injury, for which he underwent an operation. Giles Barnes had another ‘setback ‘ in his injury procession, this time a thigh strain. Some things never change!

It was learned that Stephen Davies had suffered a facial fracture near his eye socket from the whack he received at Plymouth.

Photo: Action Images

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