Ramballs

Pride Park was bathed in sunshine today for the Rams match against Plymouth Argyle. Paul Sturrock’s side came to Derby looking for their first win of the season but it wasn’t to be as the Green Army couldn’t match the Rams in the second half.

The starting eleven featured Steve Davies as the lone striker with support from Spurs loanee Jake Livermore and Stephen Pearson in midfield with Croft and Teale playing out on the flanks. Once again, Nigel Clough saw fit to stick with Jake Buxton and Miles Addison in the heart of defence with Shaun Barker warming the bench alongside Kris Commons and Rob Hulse.

From a Rams fans perspective the first half was poor up until the 30 minute mark. The lads were wasteful in possession and the movement just wasn’t there, nor were many simple passes to feet. Bywater nearly landed himself in trouble when his pass fell well short of the target and Dean Moxey played a fantastic ball, from inside the Plymouth half, out to the other side of the pitch for the Argyle wide man to run onto. Composed football this wasn’t.

Argyle went close on ten minutes when Derby failed to clear the ball and Karl Duguid hit a first time shot that deflected wide. The Greens didn’t have to wait too long for the lead though, as Jamie Mackie ran onto a long ball and struck the ball against the post. Alan Judge followed up and tried to take the ball past Jake Buxton who brought Judge down and conceded a penalty in the process. It was Judge who was fouled and Judge who handed out the punishment as he slotted home a powerful penalty. I didn’t see the replay at half time but someone who sits near me did and he said the foul was committed a yard outside the penalty area. I can’t comment because from where I sat it looked like a nailed on penalty but we’ll soon find out on tonight’s Football League show.

Plymouth continued to press and spent much of the next ten minutes camped inside the Derby half but failed to make any serious inroads. It wasn’t until the 35 minute mark that the Rams started playing with a sense of urgency and incisiveness that had been missing until that point. The Rams started to get bodies forward and they got their reward five minutes before half time.

A deep free kick was cleared to Robbie Savage, the new Rams captain, who was just outside the box and hit a low ball back into the area which found Jake Buxton who slotted home from 6 yards.

Half Time 1 - 1

The second half was a different game completely as the Rams found their stride but once again struggled to find the net. Stephen Pearson came close to giving the Rams the lead but the ball travelled wide of the left hand post. What followed shortly after will no doubt cause problems for Nigel Clough in the coming weeks.

Steve Davies was fighting for the ball and then went down on the deck in a lot of pain. The stretchers came on and took the young striker off and now we have to wait to find out what the damage is. It’s a real shame for Steve as his Derby career has been blighted by injury so far and you just feel that if he had a decent run in the team he could really give opposition defenders a problem. Fingers crossed that it is not as serious as it first seemed.

Rob Hulse replaced the injured Davies and his height gave the wide men something to aim for in the middle. Around the 70 minute mark he headed wide and it’s just a matter of time before we get Rob Hulse returning to the starting eleven and firing on all cylinders.

Kris Commons entered the fray shortly after 70 minutes replacing Lee Croft. Croft’s performance today caused the Argyle full back a lot of problems and won the Rams a number of free kicks. With Croft off the pitch, Gary Teale moved onto the right hand side and Kris Commons took up left wing duties.

Derby eventually took the lead in the final minute of the match after a string of corners finally resulted in the ball finding Miles Addison who is proving to be a real handful for the opposition during set pieces. Miles rose highest and put the ball in the net giving Derby a late winner.

Possession
Derby 43% Plymouth 57%

Shots on target
Derby 9 Plymouth 2

Shots off target
Derby 4 Plymouth 6

Corners
Derby 13 Plymouth 5

Fouls
Derby 6 Plymouth 23

Attendence: 26,186

RamBalls Additional Comments

The first half was not pretty viewing and we made hard work of getting the win against a Plymouth side who didn’t really threaten us all that much. The attendence at today’s game was also disappointing as Pride Park was home to just over 26,000 fans for the afternoon which, quite frankly, is poor. I recognise the low number of away fans meant we were unlikely to break the 30k mark but 26k is low by our excellent standards. Kids under 8 were free but that still didn’t help. I’d also question the logic of chanting “is that all you take away?” to Plymouth fans who faced a 500 mile round trip to see a team which is struggling to perform under Paul Sturrock.

Jake Livermore had a good debut. He has bags of energy (although he did appear to cramp up a little towards the end) and is comfortable playing a passing game, especially in close quarters. When he was subbed off I heard one “supporter” shout “fuck off back to spurs, you’re shit!” which is not only wrong but also a really strange way to get behind the team. Hopefully our lads get more support from the rest of our fans in future.

Finally, the match day announcer did a better job today than the guy who did it against Peterborough but that wasn’t hard. Simply announcing the right team coming onto the pitch was better than the last game although announcing the attendance without the away fans included was a little strange but it didn’t make that much difference to the total.

Bring on the Forest!

Another point is in the bag as The Rams drew with Blackpool in a no score draw at Bloomfield road. That makes it four points from a possible nine which is a decent return for the first three games.

Defensive frailties have been the biggest worry for Derby as six goals conceded in the first week of the season demonstrates. Nigel Clough stuck with the back four from the weekends game with Scunthorpe and his faith was repaid as the lads provided the seasons first clean sheet.

Kris Commons partnered Rob Hulse up front as Clough opted for a 4-4-2 formation. Both strikers made the starting eleven for the first time of this campaign but neither were successful in their attempts to get a goal.

I don’t think this was a game for the purists as the quality appeared to be lacking in both sides. Whilst the performance may not have been the best, a point away from home is always welcome.

Read the official match report here

DCFC Fans Matchday Discussion Board
Derby Evening Telegraph Match Report

Following last Tuesday’s slightly damp outing to Meadow Lane, RamBalls decided to have another soggy evening out of the house watching The Rams. Peter Kay would say the rain was “that fine rain that soaks you through”.

Finding the ground was a bit of a mystery; google maps sent us to a housing estate and the sat nav parked us at a chip shop. Eventually we found the ground, paid the £5 admission and found a seat amongst the few other Derby fans (around 25 of us) who were strange enough to make the 40 mile journey.

The match kicked off with former Stoke striker, Mark Grocutt, playing as a lone striker. Kris Commons played down the right with Ben Pringle on the opposite flank. Arnaud Mendy, the last minute goalscorer against Stoke, played in midfield alongside the trialist David Toukam, a young Cameroonian who plays for the Juventus youth team.

Kris Commons was the creative outlet for much of the first half and the Scottish international danced past a the Solihull defence on the right and shot just wide from outside the box on 20 minutes.

Arnaud Mendy used his power well in the middle and showed some neat control and some good exchanges with Toukam. Toukam also looked lively, showing for the ball and generally looking composed when on the ball.

The next attack came as Jordan Stewart picked up a loose ball, brought it out towards the left and crossed low to Commons who set himself up for a volley. He struck the ball on the turn and it was always going wide.

Minutes later and Commons was beating the Solihull defence again. He skirted across the 18yrd box, took a shot which was parried by the keeper back to Commons who then tried to chip the keeper only to see the ball cleared off the line.

The Rams took the lead through a penalty on 33 minutes. Mark Grocutt had the ball in the box only to be fouled and brought to the deck, right in front of the ref. Kris Commons was the man to step up to the plate and he slotted the ball away with ease, sending the keeper the wrong way in the process.

That was the first half. The second half was less eventful.

I could probably write more about the strange odours that my nose kept on being introduced to than I could the second 45 minutes. Honestly, whoever it was that kept on producing those less than delightful aromas should seek urgent medical advice.

I can’t remember us troubling the keeper in the second half. Commons was frequently on the ball although he didn’t have much to aim for in the middle. Pringle was subbed off for Ojamaa early in the half but his first half performance was good.

The closest Derby came to scoring in the second half was when Solihull defender and ex-ram, Theo Streete, nearly put the ball in his own net from a low cross.

The home side managed to grab a goal around 75 and a good one it was too. The ball found it’s way to John Pugh around the penalty spot and he struck it with a sweet volley beyond the helpless Atkins.

Full time score 1 - 1

RamBalls little camera struggled to get any decent pictures but you can see the gallery here.

Have you seen the latest range of Rams leisurewear? Check it out now.

The sun shone down on Derby market place this Friday afternoon as crowds gathered to see the rams launch their new home strip.

At 5:30pm the event officially kicked off with Ram FM DJs Dino and Pete introducing the evening entertainment. First up were the derby based trinity dancers. The Trinity ladies (sorry, i forgot their group name) did a short dance routine followed by the Trinity warriors. After an excellent display of break dancing there was a five minute interval before players, along with Nigel Clough, emerged. Ramballs has also been told that the away strip will be the same as the home kit with the black and white inverted.

The DCFC ladies team were next, accompanied by a local Derby model (Melony? Melody? Melissa? Melinda? I’ve no idea), and Dino (or Pete) asked them banal questions such as “are ladies as good as men at football?”

Modelling the new training gear were the academy lads.

View all of Ramballs pictures from the event here.

Feel free to use these images on your websites, message boards or where ever. It’d be nice if you linked this blog at the same time but there is no obligation by any means.

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