Derby 3-1 Peterborough

Derby finally made sure of Championship survival and climbed up to 11th place as they won a game in which they dominated from start to finish.

The majority of the opening half appeared to be spent on the right wing as time and time again Derby were awarded corners.

Sammon, Coutts, Forsyth and Martin all saw early chances fail to hit the net.

Derby finally broke the deadlock after 41 minutes. Ward released Sammon down the left. Sammon kept hold and played a perfect pass into the middle for Bryson to knock in.

After all of the earlier efforts going unrewarded, most Rams fans could have been forgiven for wondering if they were ever going to see a goal.

Derby went further ahead early in the second half. Chris Martin shouted in from the edge of the box.

The score line was stretched to 3-0 when after taking the seventeenth corner of the game for Derby, Ward's ball was flicked on by Buxton at the near post for Keogh to meet at the far side.

Just on the hour, Peterborough were offered a lifeline. Fielding was dismissed for bringing down Gayle and McCann made no mistake in squeezing the resulting spot kick past Legzdins.

Despite having a man advantage. Peterborough could make that tell and Derby ran out 3-1 winners.

A good win against a team that they often struggle against! Finally safe, it's now time for Derby push on and aim for a top ten finish.


Derby County: Fielding; Brayford, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Coutts, Hendrick, Bryson (Hughes 85), Ward (Davies 76); Sammon Martin (Legzdins 62). Subs not used: Freeman, Bennett, Gjokaj, Jacobs.


Peterborough United: Olejnick; Alcock, Knight-Percival, Zakuani (McCann 46), Brisley; Swanson (Pritchard 64), Ferdinand (Mendez-Laing 46), Payne, Rowe; Tomlin, Gayle. Subs not used: Day, Barnett, Ntlhe, Cuvelier.

Man of the match - Connor Sammon

Attendance: 23,753 (1,788 visiting supporters)

Barnsley 1-1 Derby

An away trip to Yorkshire yielded a much needed point for the Rams.

Just a few weeks ago, Derby were sitting just outside of the play off zone. They now find themselves in the bottom half of the table and are by no means safe from relegation.

Derby certainly had the better chances in the first half and 16 year old Mason Bennett added a much needed spark up front in place of Sammon who dropped to the bench.

Despite this the game remained goalless at the break.

Two minutes into the second half Barnsley took the lead when O'Grady volleyed in from close range after Scotland flicked on a through ball. From that moment Barnsley looked the most threatening side and more likely to score. That was until the final moments when Paul Coutts met a corner to head home and rescue a point.

Next up is a home game against Peterborough who have recently hit some form. Hopefully Nigel Clough will give Bennett another start!


Derby County:Fielding; Brayford, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Freeman (Jacobs 67), Hendrick, Coutts, Davies; Martin (Gjokaj 90), Bennett (Sammon 72). Subs not used: Legzdins, Doyle, Roberts, O'Connor.

Barnsley: Steele; Wiseman, Hassell (Jones 32), Cranie, Noble-Lazarus, Mellis, Perkins, Cywka (Harewood 90), O'Brien, O'Grady, Scotland (Dagnall 75) Subs not used: Alnwick, Rose, Patterson, Clark.

Man of the match - Tomasz Cywka

Attendance: 9,007 (839 Derby County supporters)

Blackburn 2-0 Derby

Yet again Derby failed to deliver on the road. Two soft goals conceded against a struggling Blackburn side reinforced the opinion of most supporters that apart from strengthening the need for a new centre forward is now at the stage of being essential.

It took the home side just eight minutes to get their noses in front. Hendrick brought down Rhodes in the box and the striker easily put away the resulting penalty.

Just before half time Danns extended the lead when he headed in.

Derby had most of the possession and more attempts on goal, but yet again the failure to capitalise proved costly.

Ward played out on the left instead of a more forward role and yet again Martin and Sammon finished a game without scoring.

Perhaps a different approach is needed up front.

A visit to Oakwell to face Barnsley is next up. Not usually a happy hunting ground and in light of their 0-6 thrashing by Charlton, they will be determined to climb out of the drop zone by making amends.


Derby County: Fielding; Brayford, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Coutts (Davies 46), Hendrick, Bryson (Freeman 72), Ward; Sammon (Bennett 83), Martin.

Subs not used: Legzdins, Roberts, Jacobs, Gjokaj.

Blackburn Rovers: Sandomierski, Kane, Dann, Hanley, Morris, Lowe (Pederson 75), Jones, Williamson, Dunn (King 64), Kazim-Richards, Rhodes (Goodwillie 90).

Subs not used: Usai, Best, Nuno Gomes, Rekik.

Man of the match - Jordan Rhodes

Attendance - 13,391

Firing Blanks! Lack of upfront power

Although Derby are amongst the leading scorers in the Championship, not enough of their goals have come from recognised strikers.

Jamie Ward has a decent strike rate of 12 goals in 21 games, but the contribution from the other front men has been quite pitiful to say the least.

Theo Robinson has 9 goals, but is out on loan to Huddersfield and to be honest is not seen by many as a long term solution.

Connor Sammon was signed for £1.1m from Wigan. He has found the net just 8 times this season and missed a brace of penalties. He gets full marks for hassling defenders and effort, but yet again he comes up short in converting chances.

Nathan Tyson who spent most of last season on the injury list. This season he scored 5 goals including a cracker against Barnsley, but he's been more effective as an impact player coming off the bench. He's currently out on loan at Millwall and like Robinson is likely to leave in the summer.

Chris Martin is currently on loan from Norwich and whilst he shows a great attitude and looks a threat moving forward, he doesn't look like a long term solution.

Mason Bennett is a great young prospect. Prospect he is and can't be expected to lead the front line at this stage if his career and at the age of 16.

Sam Rush the CEO of Derby County has hinted that the club is talking to an ex-premier league striker who is out of contract in the summer. Many people have hinted that the player is Kevin Davies. I hope that they are wrong! His scoring record does not impress!

If only we had signed Adam Le Fondre when he was linked with the club!

Derby 0-1 Ipswich

Yet another game in which Derby failed to take advantage of possession. It says it all when opposition manager Mick McCarthy admitted his side had burgled Derby.

Yet again Derby missed a spot kick! Jamie Ward's effort easily saved by Loach after the penalty was awarded for a shove on Keogh in the Ipswich box.

Ward started the game playing a wide left role with Sammon and Martin starting upfront. Despite looking threatening and causing problems for the visitors defence, they both again failed to register a goal.

For the majority of the game Ipswich were second best, however a break by Edwards in the dying minutes saw him burst forward and score a brilliant individual effort to snatch victory.

All in all it was Derby's failure to take chances and score goals that again cost them dearly! A striker must surely be on Nigel Clough's shopping list in the summer. Whilst Chris Martin impresses with his efforts, the loan spell has shown so far, that he isn't the answer to the clubs problems upfront.

Derby County: Fielding; Freeman, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Coutts, Hendrick, Bryson (Davies 85), Ward (Jacobs 79); Sammon, Martin Subs not used: Legzdins, Davies, Gjokaj, Bennett, Roberts, Doyle

Ipswich Town: Loach; Stearman, Chambers, Smith, Cresswell; Edwards, Hyam, Drury (N’Daw 59), Tabb; McGoldrick (Chopra 84), Murphy (Nouble 59) Subs not used: Lee-Barrett, Hewitt, Kisnorbo, Emmanuel-Thomas

Man of the match - Jeff Hendrick

Attendance: 23,081 (939 visiting supporters)

Leeds 1-2 Derby

The Rams continued their impressive run of results against Leeds by notching up a 9th consecutive win against them. The game also accounted for Leeds manager, Neil Warnock resigning.

The first half was fairly even, though the home side had the best chance when former Ram Paul Green hit the bar.

Luke Varney also had an opportunity when through, but he hit his shot wide.

The game really got going in the 67th minute when Ross McCormack struck a beautiful shot from the edge of the box to give Fielding no chance.

The scores were level five minutes later. Martin was brought down in the box by Pearce and a spot kick was ordered by the referee.

Sammon made a hash of the spot kick, but fortunately it rebounded off the post and Paul Coutts was there to make sure that a second chance wasn't squandered when he redirected it into the Leeds net.

The three points were secured when Davies's corner was met by Jake Buxton who headed in.

The win sees the Rams now up to eighth place. Still mathematically in the hunt for a play off spot, but also, strangely, still not out of the woods from a relegation battle. Now that is what you call a tight division.

Derby County: Fielding; Freeman, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Coutts, Hendrick, Bryson (Jacobs 34), Davies (Gjokaj 90); Martin, Sammon. Subs not used: Deeney, O’Connor, Doyle, Bennett, Hoganson.

Leeds United: Kenny, Byram, Pearce, Peltier, Warnock, Green, Austin, Dawson (McCormack 57), Diouf (White 65), Morison, Varney. Subs not used: Ashdown, Brown, Tonge, Norris, Habibou.

Man of the Match - Richard Keogh

Attendance: 21,384

Derby 3-0 Bristol City

Derby were easy winners in this Friday night clash against Struggling Bristol City.

The margin of victory could have been greater had Jamie Ward not had his penalty saved in the opening minutes by Heaton.

The penalty was given after Cunningham brought down Hendrick inside the box.

Derby took the lead after 20 minutes when Hendrick struck a half volley into the corner of the net from the edge of the box.

The Rams had several other chances, but the visitors defence managed to prevent Derby from extending their lead before the break.

After 54 minutes the Rams went further ahead when Hendrick started a move that saw Sammon cross for Jamie Ward to slot the ball underneath the keeper to score his 12th goal of the campaign.

Sammon missed a golden opportunity to make it 3-0 minutes later when a touch from close range resulted in him knocking the ball over.

Derby did add a third when Ben Davies attempt was deflected in via Moloney.

A good three points secured albeit against strugglers.

Derby now hit the road on Easter Monday with a visit to Leeds United.

Derby County: Fielding; Freeman, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Coutts, Hendrick, Bryson, Ward (Davies 69); Sammon, Martin. Subs not used: Legzdins, Gjokaj, Doyle, Bennett, Jacobs, Hoganson.

Bristol City: Heaton; Moloney, Nyatanga, Fontaine, Cunningham (Pearson 79), Anderson, Kilkenny, Skuse, Elliott (Adomah 66), Baldock, Davies. Subs not used: Gerken, J. Wilson, Bates, Howard, Kelly.

Man of the Match - Jeff Hendrick

Attendance: 23,483 (visiting 839)