‘One of those days,’ is a term too commonly used in the footballing fraternity, with managers and players alike prone to sweeping woeful displays under the carpet with these four words. Yesterday at Pride Park however, it certainly was one of those days.

After last weeks’ superb result at the Amex, the nature of the defeat and the goal in particular, was akin to being told the food you’ve digested was in fact two weeks out of date… hard to stomach.

The atmosphere as a whole, in and outside of the stadium, seemed odd from the outset. Perhaps it was because of my unfamiliar view from the South-West Upper (or the Gordon Guthrie, if you will).

Perhaps it was the fact that for the first time in 700 meetings between us and the lesser of our East-Midlands rivals, the game wasn’t being covered by SKY. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to seep through to the Rams, who began like a team who had just come back from the coast with 3 points in the boot.

Derby, unchanged, had all of the early running and a glut of early corners, albeit with little to speak of in way of saves for Schmeichel. Leicester looked content to play on the break, with a front 3 presumably intended to make messers Freeman and Forsyth wearier of raiding forward and offering much-needed width.

The most miserable manager in the Championship, with the possible exception of Tony Mowbray, must have been frantically rubbing his hands through his lego-hair as Derby impressed in the first quarter. Martin linked the play well, finding Bryson and Hughes willing runners but with little final ball.

The midfield four, as in Brighton, didn’t seem to have a fluid shape, with Hughesy charged with pulling the strings in a compact system. This led to plenty of possession yes, fluidity no. I found myself sympathizing with what season-ticket holders at the Emirates must feel like, without a gaping hole in my bank-balance.

As the play followed a similar pattern of broken play and not much in behind the considerable frame of Wes Morgan, I observed to my friend that for Leicester to score, it would have to come through a mistake from one of the men in white.

How I wished that my crystal ball wouldn’t have been as accurate as a poor ball by Coutts allowed Vardy the first sniff and the first very smart save from Grant. Five-minutes later, Prophet Weston was proven correct as Buxton, ok possibly given a nudge in the back, conceded the sloppiest of corners.

From yet another free-header at the far-stick and after the cruellest of deflections off some part of Grant as Coutts tried to clear, we found ourselves one-down as the young-looked hoards in blue to my right found their voices. Our Achilles heel had come to haunt us again and the best team was behind.

Leicester found their stride as Keogh nearly snapped Wood in two to atone for his error following a slack pass. The skipper was also guilty of getting caught under the ball as a free-kick was somehow headed over from 6 yards. After dominating long spells, we found ourselves grateful to hear three-blasts on the whistle and the interval.

The second half began in similar fashion, with Leicester’s physical approach stalling Derby’s passing regime and leading to a scrappy affair. Our midfield looked bereft of width and when provided, the erratic Forsyth was often wasteful from left-back. His missed tackle almost allowed Vardy to steal in for a second but again Grant, or at least his knees, was up to the task.

Something had to change and oddly Pearson aided us with the switch to a 4-4-2 for the visitors. As a result, our midfield quartet saw more of the ball in threatening areas. Our right hand side looked the most likely to provide us an equaliser, with the impressive Freeman seeing a shot saved by Schmeichel at his near post.

Johnny Russell, still adapting to the English game, had arguably his best game in a Rams shirt and delivered a couple of threatening balls which again lacked a killer touch.

What we needed was a genuine threat however, which came in the shape of Ward on 70 mins, replacing Coutts, who could be deemed unfortunate not to see Hendrick or Forsyth depart the scene instead.

Finally, we had genuine width and Ward immediately saw a long range effort saved, before some excellent approach play saw Freeman’s low centre somehow avoid ricocheting into the net. Head in hands all around, even with 15 minutes to go, you somehow knew that this wasn’t to be our day.

The fish replaced Russell for one last assault and immediately put himself around, although Morgan’s repeated fouling on Martin continued to be missed by the officials.

Tom Daley, no sorry, Anthony Knockaert appeared off the visitors’ bench, and immediately scored 6.0 from the Russian judge, although nothing from the referee.

Two final chances followed, with me finding myself guilty of thinking that Hughes would cap his fine display with a goal, not a shank wide of the near post. Keogh headed five yards wide with a free header with Ward again the provider as the sands of time began to slip away.

Martin’s afternoon was complete as he went down in the box only for his appeals to be waved away. From my considerable distance, it didn’t look like a penalty; however the lack of a card for diving seemed somewhat odd.

Clough chose to leave the kitchen sink on the bench as the clock struck 90, with the visitors closest to stealing what would have been a travesty of a second goal from a King free kick.

Final whistle, cue boo’s from a few people who obviously weren’t watching the same game as me, frustration and considerable head scratching into how we were left pointless.

To add to my annoyance, the last thing I saw when heading into the concourse was the smug look all over David Nugent’s face. At least he didn’t score though. Silver linings and all that.

In all seriousness, we made a good side on paper look very ordinary at best and were desperately unlucky not to have at least another point on the board.

Football is, however, a results industry and it will be important to get a point, or preferably all three, from our long trip into farmer country next weekend. Not a bad display by any means, but we still need more of a cutting edge to ensure that the positive start doesn’t end up like my post-match pint….. flat.

We said:

Derby manager Nigel Clough

"We had a great start to the game. We were on the front foot and were creating chances and then around the time of the goal they came back into it. But 10 minutes into the second half, I thought we controlled the last 30 minutes and played some very good stuff.”

"There were lots of nearly moments in the game for us but I thought it was a good enough performance to get something and if you deal with the corner, the bare minimum you come out with is a 0-0 and you keep the unbeaten run intact and move on.”

"I think defensively they are one of the best sides and one of the most difficult sides to score against but we certainly had enough situations that we didn't quite turn into chances but we had enough in the second half to get a goal.”

"We are OK, we are in good spirits. We know we've played well again and we are happy with the squad and the way we are trying to play. We've had a little setback and we will use that as an incentive to try and go on an unbeaten run before the international break."

They said:

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson

"We've started the season OK but performance wise we still have a lot to do.

"We didn't play particularly well today, I think Derby managed the ball very well but ultimately we've come away with the three points. I'm not going to moan too much but we are a lot better than that.

"I look at the positives, it's a clean sheet, we've won, there's room for improvement and it's nice to get two away wins."

Weston’s player ratings:

Lee Grant 6 - Relatively untroubled, unfortunate with the OG Rating.

Craig Forsyth 4 - Poorest game in a Rams shirt. Some decent tackles but awful distribution.

Kieron Freeman 7 - Looked a threat going forwards and coped well with Schlupp and Dyer. Improving fast.

Jake Buxton; a solid 6 - Gave away corner leading to goal but good in the air.

Richard Keogh 5 - Un-characteristically sloppy from the skipper, too many missed passes which led to us nearly being caught out a few times.

Craig Bryson 6 - Usual tireless display, caught in possession at times.

Jeff Hendrick 5 - A passenger throughout most of the game; not helped by playing in arguably a four.

Will Hughes 8 - Another great display from the young man. Passed efficiently, battled hard against a robust midfield, great driving runs at times. Weston’s star man.

Paul Coutts 6 - Linked well with Freeman, asked to play too far infield at times.

Johnny Russell 6 - Looked lively, created a couple of good openings. Need sharpness and to be a little braver but that will come.

Chris Martin 7 - Battled away well with Morgan, linked play up and did his job to good effect.

Subs

Jamie Ward 7 - Gave us a spark and width when coming on. Certainly more creative with him on the park.

Conor Sammon 6 - Ten Minutes of hard work and some decent touches. Is knocking on the door to be back in the first team.

Match Video Highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw55_SqZUog

Next up for the Rams:

Yeovil (A) — 3pm Saturday August 18^th.

Photo: Action Images

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