Ramballs

It was being billed as Clough jr vs Ferguson jr as the media constantly reminded us of both Nigel and Darren’s fathers achievements. Our Nigel had beaten Ferguson Snr last season and was now looking to complete the Ferguson set. Darren Ferguson has high hopes for his Peterborough team as he talks of reaching the Premier League but before he can do that he had to take his Posh side to Pride Park. It’s ok though because they’d done their homework, as he told the BBC “We are going there to win as in any other game, we know their strengths and we know their weaknesses,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s all about us and we can go there and give a good account of ourselves”

To be fair to Peterborough, they did give a decent account of themselves but the first half was dominated by The Rams as the five man midfield chased everything, passed well and always wanted the ball. The defence weren’t troubled too much and the first 45 minutes were satisfying for Derby fans.

The first goal came from a badly cleared corner as Miles Addison threw himself at the ball to head it in at the far post. This was a brave move as he collided with a Peterborough player and injured himself along the way. This minor knock was unlikely to keep Miles down for long though; he picked himself up and carried on with the match, playing a blinder if I do say so myself.

The Posh followed up The Rams goal with a goal of their own after new boy Tommy Rowe crossed low into the six yard box to George Boyd who slotted home with ease. Seconds of joy for The Posh fans were soon replaced by disaapointment as they realised the flag was up; offside!

Derby were better in possession and I can honestly say that I didn’t feel too concerned when Peterborough attacked. They did have a few efforts, notably Aaron Mcleans shot which went wide from ten yards.

The start of the second half saw Paul Green replaced by Kris Commons and The Rams appeared to shift to a 4-4-2 formation, with Commons playing alongside Steve Davies. The game seemed pretty even at times; only poor execution in the final third seemed to prevent either team from scoring. The exception to this was Dean Moxeys last ditch tackle which was sublime. Craig Mackail-Smith was clean through on goal and, in my mind, the only possible outcomes from the situation were a goal conceded or penalty awarded. Moxey proved me wrong in stunning style as he timed him sliding challenge to perfection and pulled the ball away from CMS.

The Posh were awarded a penalty though. Bywater came running out of his goal and was left stranded in a moment of madness. Shaun Batt ran onto the ball, knocked it past the keeper and went down under the challenge of the Derby goalie. From where I was sat, it seemed harsh. He got a touch but he kicked it out of play and would never have caught the ball had he not be brought down. That was irrelevent though, the penatly stood and now Bywater was the only man who can save the day.

He didn’t. George Boyd scored, sending Stephen Bywater the wrong way in the process.

I thought that was it. We were likely to be leaving with a point but I hadn’t banked on Gary Teale being in the right place at the right time.

Kris Commons played the ball into the box from a corner and the following goal mouth scramble resulted in the ball landing at Gary Teales feet and he tapped the ball in from a few yards.

Full Time: Derby 2 - 1 Peterborough

I make no apologies for being Derby biased. If you want impartial reporting, don’t visit a Derby County blog written by a Derby County fan

Check out the some unbiased (and a couple of biased) match reports from around the web.

DCFC Official Site
Peterborough Official Site
Sky Sports
Derby Evening Telegraph
Guardian
Daily Telegraph
Daily Mail
Daily Express
Daily Star
The Times
BBC
Ramzone
Derby County Mad
Football.co.uk

Check out a selection of photos from the Bass Vase final from the Pirelli Stadium. Burton Albion won the game from a first half penalty and looked good for the win. Derby did have some chances, mostly when Kris Commons was on the pitch, but the finishing touch was missing throughout the game.

Kris Commons hit the post from a free kick and almost scored with a volley from inside the area but neither chance found the back of the net. Burton had several chances and could have won the game by more had it not been for some poor finishing.

Click here to open the full gallery in a new window

Read the official sites match report here.

As I left my apartment to head towards Nottingham, the heavens opened. It was a Tuesday evening and here I was, driving down the A52 towards Nottingham in the pouring rain to watch a pre-season friendly against league 2 opposition. Does life get any better than this? Yes. Yes it most certainly does.

By the time I arrived in Nottingham the pitter-patter of the rain had at least stopped. In it’s place was the sound of gun shots and stab victims screaming for dear life. Welcome to Shottingham: Gun capital of the Midlands.

I made my way over to the Wheeler bar at Meadow Lane, ordered a pint and prepared for the big match. Having checked the starting eleven online, I was expecting Varney to play as the lone striker and Davies to be out on the right but I was wrong; the roles were reversed. Teale was on the left, Varney on the right with Green, Pearson and Savage in the middle. The back saw Addison and McEveley play in the centre, Moxey on the left and Conners on the right. Shaun “Reggie” Barker was left out of the squad due to picking up a knock earlier this week.

The battle between Lee “the hit man” Hughes and Jay McEveley was one the watch. Jay battled well with the former Oldham front man but it was clear that he was playing out of position as Hughes got past him on more than one occasion. Based on last nights display, Hughes will do very well in league two. He’s still got a lot of quality and likes to pass and move, or as he knows it, hit and run. It was Hughes who made the first goal. He crossed from the left hand side and McEveley could do nothing except turn it into his net. 1-0 to County.

Six minutes later and the Rams were level. The Notts defence and goalkeeper got it all wrong as a dreadful back pass was pounced on by Steve Davies who calmly slotted the ball home. Davies put in an excellent display up front. He held the ball well, battled hard and he isn’t afraid to have a crack at goal. After the game, Nigel Clough said he was “very, very pleased” with Steve’s display. The one negative for Davies would be his failure to get himself on the score sheet again despite his penalty effort. The Rams were awarded a penalty after a handball in the box but Davies could only clip the top of the bar from the spot.

On 35 minutes we took the lead in superb style. Savage, being the old pro that he is, saw an opportunity to shoot from distance. Using all his experience he craftily disguised his shot as a miss-hit cross and it worked a treat as the Notts keeper flapped his arms around to no avail. The ball found it’s way into the net and the Rams were 2-1 up thanks to the ever cunning Robbie Savage.

The magpies continued to look dangerous and should be pushing for promotion this season. The Rams largely dealt with the pressure but the movement of the County forward line certainly caused problems during the first half.

In the second half, Derby began to show their quality as they kept possession, passed the ball well and looked the better team. Some things still confuse me though:

1) Why do we sometime do short corners? I don’t remember a time when they’ve been successful for us (feel free to list the dozens of goals we have scored from short corners in the past few years)

2) Why did Teale, when presented with a perfect opportunity to cross, play the ball back along the floor to Savage who was only just inside the Notts half. Maybe, given his earlier most-certainly-deliberate strike, he assumed Savage would shoot?

3) What does Luke Varney bring to the side?

I don’t like moaning about individual players on, and I’ll try to avoid it throughout the coming season, but Varney doesn’t do enough for me. I hope he turns in on during the season but, so far, I’m not entirely convinced.

Poor defending seemed to bring about the Notts County second goal. A failure to clear the ball enabled County to slot the ball home with ease.

The final goal came from the substitute Kris Commons who was a late addition to the squad. He was clearly off the pace but even a half fit Commons was a handful for the league two outfit. He ran the left hand side well and put balls into the box with little end result. So, clearly inspired by Robbie Savage earlier goal, Commons followed his lead. He fooled everyone into thinking he was crossing the ball towards the back post when in actual fact he scored by lobbing Russell Hoult. Sublime stuff.

And that was that. The Rams beat Notts County in front of Sven, which is more that Forest managed. Ultimately though, this game doesn’t matter as pre-season games aren’t important, although it’s still nice to see a Derby win, whatever the circumstances.