The Rams took the trip to Cardiff looking to continue their giant killing ways against a second Welsh team. Instead they finished the match as the walking wounded and played the promotion hopefuls back into form.

Cardiff 4 vs. 1 Derby County

3pm Saturday 2nd April 2011

Stadium Dinas Caerdydd

Cardiff - Wales

J. Linington

Cardiff Crowd:

22,254

Teams:

Cardiff:

Heaton, McNaughton, Whittingham, Bothroyd (Parkin 71), McPhail, Burke, Keinan, Quinn, Olofinjana, Samuel (Blake 69), Bellamy (Emmanuel-Thomas 76).

Unused Substitutes: Brown, Rae, Gyepes, Matthews.

Yellow Cards: McPhail, Samuel

Goals: Bothroyd  (7 - Pen), Keinan (48), Quinn (56), Whittingham (68)

Derby:

Jones, Brayford, Ayala, Barker (Addison 65), Roberts (Anderson 60), Green (Bailey 37), Savage, Pearson, Ward, Bueno, S Davies.

Unused Substitutes: Atkins, Cywka, Robinson, B Davies.

Yellow Cards: Ayala

Goals: Savage (90 - Pen)

Match Stats:

Possession: Cardiff 53% - 47% Derby

Shots On Target: Cardiff 7 – 4 Derby

Shots Off Target: Cardiff 1 – 3 Derby

Corners: Cardiff 5 – 2 Derby

Fouls: Cardiff 16 – 11 Derby

Most Fouls: Samuel 4 – 2 Bueno

Match Report:

The sooner this season is over the better.

Yesterday saw the long trip to South Wales. It ended with a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Craig Bellamy’s Cardiff.

The result flattered a depressingly devoid of ideas Derby County outfit even before Savage’s late penalty strike.

Visions of our premiership year “Worst Team In History”. As our team passed the ball back and fourth in the comforting sunshine of their own half, in the stands the fans danced Conga’s and made their own entertainment.

Crowd watching was the more enjoyable choice.

On the pitch Brad Jones wore a green shirt and spectacularly managed not to save a single sausage thrown his way. James Severn, Ross Atkins, in fact even Robbie Savage there’s chance for you yet.

Perhaps Jones can play left full back. Roberts carried off on a stretcher. Or maybe he’s right footed, that full back spot is open too after Green also left with a suspected knee injury. Who else do we have in reserve for those positions?

It’s churlish I know and I really should stop whinging but we are being reduced to a bunch of clowns by decisions off the pitch.

To watch Craig Bellamy run rings round us, run into Shaun Barker for a penalty and generally look the best loan signing I’ve seen all season is so disheartening.

Who do we get, Jamie “one wonder goal” Ward, Theo “control, are you there control” Robinson and Brad “bugger it’s in the back of net” Jones.

Yes, I know we have Ayala, who is coming down to our level quite nicely after a promising start, thank you and Alberto Bueno who was hamstrung by having to play in the presence of Steven “miss of the season” Davies.

Actually that begs the question, who was the Rams man of the match? After much deliberation I’d plump for Brayford or Bailey with about as much conviction as our defence.

Four goals then! A soft penalty scored by Jay Boothroyd. A thunderous header straight past the keeper by Keinan who was let go by Davies. Quinn and Whitingham added the third and fourth both turned home from inside the area.

Still look on the bright side, plenty of leg room, enough for a conga, friendly locals, PS3’s in the concourse free of charge, activities for the kiddies; Stephen Bywater even made an appearance.

Cardiff are the official Family Club of the year 2011, they truly deserve it especially when you consider how they were at Ninian Park. An amazing achievement, the best ground and pre-match atmosphere I can recall in forty odd years of following the Rams.

They even had a fun fair outside.

It’s a shame the cry from Rams fans by the end of the match was “Stop the ride I want to get off”.

Manager’s Reaction:

Nigel Clough bemoaned his team’s lack of luck when talking to the Official Site:

"We don't seem to get much luck in Cardiff. Nothing goes our way in this neck of the woods and today was a prime example of that.”

"We gave away a soft penalty early on to go behind, missed chances and then lost two players (Paul Green & Gareth Roberts) to injury. Everything that could have gone against us did go against us.”

"It was weird standing on the touchline at 4-0 down because we didn't really think we deserved that. We had chances to equalise before we went 2-0 down and even after that we had a great chance to get back in the game, but we squandered that one too.”

"Today showed in some areas we can compete with the top teams, but in others we need to improve in the summer. We need a striker who can get us a goal, we've know that for a while, but the performances of Jamie Ward, John Brayford, Daniel Ayala, Shaun Barker and Gareth Roberts gave us hope.”

"In fact, I thought we actually did okay defensively. It was just that every time they had a chance, they scored. It has been a strange sort of day, but we will put it behind us and move on because we have two very important home games coming up.”

"It might sound silly, but we have to take the positives from today. We played okay, but we need to have some conviction from someone to get us a goal at key times."

Clough was also concerned about possible season ending injuries to Green and Roberts:

"Until we get anything confirmed we can't say too much, we suspect it is knee ligament damage for both of them which will, at least, keep him out for the rest of the season."

Vice-Captain’s Reaction:

Shaun Barker was determined to continue battling his injury concerns to see the Rams safe:

"I had a few knocks during the game, so with two big games coming up the Gaffer felt the time was right to take me off and also avoid being booked (to avoid a 2 game suspension).”

"I don't want to miss games, everyone knows that and I'll keep playing until I'm told otherwise. The operation is secondary because the main aim is to make sure Derby County are safe in the Championship.”

"It was good to see Russell Anderson back out there today, it has been a tough season for him (with injury) and it will have done him a world of good to get some minutes under his belt."

"We have to be realistic, we aren't safe yet and we can't consider ourselves safe either. The teams below us will be fighting for their lives to stay up, so we can't expect to be safe with what we've got because others will pick up points.”

"Nine points is a nice gap and we need to keep it that way, or extend it even more, because we don't want to all of a sudden be three or four points off the relegation zone. They are massive games for us."

Next Match:

Derby County vs. Coventry City

3pm Saturday 9th April

Pride Park Stadium - Derbyshire

Photo: Action Images

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