Aside from the issues of team selection facing Jones – assuming Edwards would be ruled out would he stick to the Gillesphey/Bell solution or look for an alternative, would there be any change(s) up front, would new signing Hernandez feature, and/or would there be a need to give some tired legs a break? – the real (partially related) question was just ‘can we do it again’? A repeat of Saturday’s performance would be entirely welcome, against a side which has made a poor start to the season, conceding 13 goals in seven games. But we all know football’s not that simple, or predictable.
At half-time last night we were feeling pretty good about things. A goal to the good, home fans clearly restless, a fair chance that we would either see out the game or get a second and take the points. But Derby, while not having a first-half effort on target, had caused problems for our back line, largely as we were unable to dominate physically, with Agyemang giving as good as he got. And in the second half, with nothing to lose they threw bodies forward and pinned us back, unable to exploit space on the break as it was all hands on deck to keep them out. We didn’t manage that and, although we might have nicked a second late on, had to settle for a point. Not a bad point, can’t say it wasn’t a fair outcome, but when you are ahead going into the final 10 minutes you can’t help feeling a little disappointed (especially if like me you took a sneak preview of where a win would have left us in the league).
For the team there were two changes from Saturday, with the first being confirmation of Edwards’ unavailability and the retention of Gillesphey, with Bell in the wing-back role, while Ramsay came back in to replace Burke, the suspicion being that he might struggle at this point to do three games in seven days. The rest were ‘as you were’, with Berry returning to the squad for the first time this season, taking the vacant spot on the bench – which was welcome but did seem odd to have all three of Carey, Knibbs and Berry in competition for one place.
The opening exchanges were rather too open for comfort. Derby shouts for an early penalty were over-optimistic, but Ramsay was beaten on the inside, the danger snuffed out by Bell, while at the other end Kelman almost profited from a fizzed back pass and poor touch from their keeper. Derby looked wobbly at the back and likely to cough up chances, if we could keep it tight at the other end.
The game settled down into a more familiar scrappy affair of no real chances, a curled effort from Campbell being the closest we came. Then on 36 minutes, somewhat out of the blue, we fashioned a very, very good goal. Kaminski’s long ball out was superbly taken down by Kelman, enabling him to play it wide to Campbell. He advanced down the left and cut back, but instead of crossing or looking for another curler played the ball low in to Carey. He played it first time to Docherty, who saw that Bree had advanced unmarked on the right side (he couldn’t really miss him with his arms in the air) and chipped it back across to him. It was falling at a difficult height, but Bree controlled the shot with excellent technique and sent it flying into the far corner of the net.
That put us very much on the front foot and we played out the rest of the half fairly comfortably, although Derby had spells of pressure and plenty of the ball outside our box. And the half-time stats had a familiar ring to them. Derby had enjoyed 58% possession but managed five shots, none on target, against five and two for us, including the important one. More of the same in the second and the points would be ours.
However, the second half began much like the first, with Kaminski almost caught out by a mishit cross, Kelman having a decent effort saved, then Derby having a couple of threatening breaks, one finding their guy on the left only for him to shoot well over from a good position. More Derby pressure and with perhaps the three games in seven days in mind persuaded Jones the Boss to make changes slightly earlier than usual, opting for a triple substitution. Leaburn, Burke and Knibbs came on for Kelman, Corey and Bree, with Ramsay moving to wing-back.
Despite fresh legs we were struggling to either retain the ball or spring effective counter-attacks. On the hour we did have a shot from Bell inside the box, which struck their defender on the elbow. The Blackburn manager might like to take a look at that one as it was similar to the one on Saturday which struck Jones’ arm. If he considered that a certain penalty he’d presumably back our case for one last night. Nothing was given, rightly so.
On 76 minutes Olaofe came on for Campbell, who was getting no joy in the second half, and just after we all held our breath as it seemed Derby would equalise. A decent break, good passing and their guy was free from Burke and in on goal around the edge of the area. He had time to pick his spot and hit it well enough, but Kaminski gambled on reading his intentions correctly, diving to his right to turn away the effort. Superb save. But it did us little good. The resulting corner was turned away but only to their guy on the other side. His dinked cross went towards a mass of players and it was one of theirs who rose highest and the header went just inside the post.
With a little over 10 minutes plus stoppage time left, the game was there for either side to snatch a winner. And we came closest. A scramble from a corner fell to Knibbs, but he wasn’t well set and snatched at the shot, sending it over the bar, then in the six minutes of added time the ball ran to Docherty inside the box. His effort took a deflection and went wide, the replays suggesting it was Olaofe getting the touch (a goalkick was given, to our surprise at the time). Derby did have a final break and forced a decent save from Kaminiski at his near post, but there was to be no late drama.
It is a decent point, even if ultimately we were unable to fully exploit Derby’s problems at the back and take all three. Was that because we were confident in seeing it out? Perhaps, but give Derby some credit for pushing us back and keeping us pinned down, at least until their equaliser. Were Jones’ substitutions ill-timed? Possibly, but the need for fresh legs was evident.
Fact is we’re quibbling about not beating Derby on their home turf and not sitting third in the league. We turned in another decent performance, just one not as compelling as against Blackburn as unlike them Derby didn’t wilt. We’re not getting the credit we deserve – just read comments from Derby fans about how poor they were – because I guess it’s credit for making the opposition play badly by continually harassing them and working so hard to defend the box. People will see a pattern sooner or later.
We move on to another tough fixture, at Preston, which as things stand will mean that we will have played five out of the top 11 in our first nine games. It was always going to be a hard start to the campaign and we’ve risen to the challenge. Of course Saturday will bring us up against a certain Small, who seems to have hit the ground running with them, like us Preston playing him on the right side. We know what he can do and Edwards (if fit), Bell and Gillesphey will know what to expect – and I guess would like us breathe a sigh of relief if a slight niggle rules him out.
