Not Enough On The Day

With no confirmation as yet of Nathan Jones as the next messiah, this one wasn’t going to mark the start of a new era. Rather it was all about whether we could pull off what would be a surprise and end the winless run, the secondary issue being how we played and whether it looked as though the new players were bedding in. Clearly we failed as regards the former; and the best you could say re the latter was that it’s too early to tell. It wasn’t a terrible performance, we weren’t taken apart by a free-flowing promotion-chasing outfit, there was plenty of endeavour and some good individual displays. But throughout we lacked the pace and guile to unsettle an experienced and well-drilled Derby defence.

They were ahead for over two-thirds of the game, curtesy of yet another individual defensive error, and saw it out quite comfortably, never needed to chase things; we couldn’t manage to turn 61% possession into meaningful chances; the closest we came to scoring was not so much Kanu’s header as a low cross deflected by a defender almost into the net. The best you could say at the end of the game was that we shouldn’t judge our prospects for the rest of the season on the basis of this one, the performance might have been good enough to take the points against lesser opposition.

The team showed something we had feared through January, the absence of Dobson – although we are assured this was not a Blackett-Taylor-style injury (and he missed out on a place in the Derby squad). He was replaced straightforwardly by the returning Coventry, while Edun returned after suspension to replace Asiimwe (who didn’t make a place on the bench, with newcomer Ramsay given the spot). It did mean Edmunds-Green being retained in midfield in the 3-5-2, while May took the captain’s armband.

There was really nothing in a tight, disjointed, injury-disrupted first half (there were 10 additional minutes, including the time necessary to patch up Maynard-Brewer after a brave early intervention). The best we could muster was Lapedo being first to a knock-down of a Coventry ball forward in search of May only for his fierce shot to be blocked, possibly by a hand (although there was no obvious movement of hand to ball). And we gifted them a goal.

Maynard-Brewer out to Gillesphey on our left side. As we’ve all seen many times by now, he shaped to send it down the line only to sell the dummy and slide the ball inside towards Coventry, only problem being he’d bought the ball down the line and was moving forward. Their guy intercepted and we’ve been caught. They made the most of it as the pass to the forward bisected defenders, Mendez-Laing took an excellent first touch and set himself to drive the ball low into the far corner. Well taken for sure, but another howler from our perspective.

At the break we’d enjoyed 54% possession but managed only three attempts on goal, none on target, to Derby’s six and two respectively. All the hard work that had gone into making us competitive had been undermined by an error and we now had to look at what we could do to change the picture. And Fleming did make a change, with Kanu introduced and Edun withdrawn, which seemed to mean a back four with Thomas taking the left side, while May dropped more into the hole.

And in the first 15 of the second half we did have our brightest and most threatening period of the game, might easily have drawn level. May had a shot routinely saved but then we worked the ball down the right, with Edmonds-Green sliding it through for Watson. His low cross had to be played by their defender and his touch diverted the ball towards the net but not by enough, it going past the post and behind. Ladapo had a decent shot deflected up for the keeper to gather, then just before the hour Gillesphey put in an inviting high ball from our left side. An unmarked Kanu got to it but his header from close range was turned over the bar. It wasn’t a gimme but if he’d managed to head the ball down the keeper would have had no chance unless it just hit him.

Then Derby reminded us that they carried a threat, Bakinson just managing to intercept a ball destined for a guy in space, then after a May low cross was put behind they did have a near miss. A guy danced past a couple of challenges and then poked the ball just wide. And really that chance, just past the hour mark, was to prove as near to another goal either side came.

We made changes, with Ramsay making his debut for Gillesphey (and picking up a yellow with almost his first involvement), then later Watson(L) and Campbell introduced for Bakinson and Watson(T), finally Fiorini for Lapado at the start of five added minutes. It was all to no avail as Derby, having weathered our good spell, closed the door.

It was a game for us of might have beens. If we’d conjured a goal in the first half to get our noses in front Derby might have had to change their approach, if we’d equalised during our good spell we could have come away with a point. But overall we just didn’t carry enough threat. And I wasn’t convinced by the changes we made. I thought before the game that a fair bit rested on how well Bakinson and Ladapo would shape up. In the end both were peripheral as attacking threats, as Bakinson had no space to move into and Ladapo looked still rusty. For me we needed someone in midfield or in the hole to provide a bit of the unexpected, either a Fraser (OK, too late for that) or an early introduction for Watson(L), even giving Fiorini the chance to show us what he has. Later, after our threat was ebbing and players tiring, we needed a fresh, physical presence up front, soon hopefully an Aneke but if we’d signed him Ikpeazu. Someone to bully their defenders and even enable us to go long.

So we were really left with a lot of unanswered questions, ones presumably for Jones to start to address next week. He will need to come up with answers quickly for we know the importance of the next game, at Reading. We do now have options in most positions, within the context of just one genuine wide player and only three available forwards. Getting the right combinations in defence and midfield looks paramout – and quickly.