Derby County vs Middlesbrough

At the start of play, league sponsors Skybet had Middlesbrough 11/10 favourites to be promoted, with Derby County being second favourites at 7/4. Interestingly however, the bookies had Derby down as 11/8 favourites to run out winners in Tuesday night’s encounter between the two sides at the iPro Stadium. Home favourites Derby were on the back of a good display 3 days prior at home to Charlton with the Rams unfortunate to have had to settle for a draw on that occasion. Meanwhile visitors Middlesbrough came into this game on the back of a huge 3-0 victory at home to Bolton. This battle between two promotion hopefuls was a hotly anticipated event and as fans of both teams waited for their teams to emerge, you could cut the tension with a knife. Following a minute’s silence for the recently deceased Ian Magno, father of Derby academy scholar Glenn Magno, the noise levels in the ground rose to near deafening levels in expectation of an epic clash between these two sides.

The home side started the brighter and Derby were energetic all over the park creating chances. One particular bright moment came from midfielder Jeff Hendrick. His layoff to Tom Ince, who found Andreas Weimann, culminated in the Austrian international completing the passing triangle that found Hendrick space to crack off a long shot hard and low to the Boro ‘keeper’s left. The goalkeeper in question, Dimi Konstantopoulos, got a hand to the shot but could only hook it out to Chris Martin, who was dispossessed by George Friend clearing the danger. There was a good feeling for the first 15 minutes amongst Derby fans who, before to the match, saw this as a tough game and were apprehensive about coming up against one of their apparent ‘bogey teams’. Seeing their team dominate the early stages was positive for the Rams, and calmed a few nerves in the stands of the iPro.

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This good feeling was soon to turn to a sinking feeling, as Middlesbrough caught Derby napping to take the lead on the 15 minute mark. The away side found themselves 1-0 up after switching the play to find marauding left back George Friend, who cut inside for an attempt at goal on his weaker right foot. His attempt deflected off Derby centre-half Richard Keogh and fell into the lap of Kike, who needed only to apply a simple finish to give his side the lead. One rare moment of complacency is all a team like Boro need to take the lead and a poor collective lapse in focus was always likely to be extremely dangerous against such a well-drilled cerebral outfit.

After this, the game started to be played at the away team’s pace. Derby did not raise the tempo despite controlling the ball, and lacked creativity. When Middlesbrough had possession they kept the game slow and sluggish to stop Derby from being able to beat them with pace. The noise in the iPro had quietened and the home fans realised their team had not dealt well with going a goal down. The Rams looked frustrated to be trailing at home for the second time in three days. The only real chance in the half an hour that followed the opener was a Chris Martin header over the bar, after Jason Shackell played a long pass down the Derby left to Stephen Warnock. The left back crossed for the arriving Martin but the striker got his header all wrong and connected too far underneath the ball, sending it up and over the bar.

Further adversity for the Rams came when Jamie Hanson was clattered by George Friend. Friend was booked for the dangerous challenge after play continued for the Derby advantage. Unfortunately for those of a black and white persuasion, Hanson had to be substituted with a concussion, along with Jeff Hendrick who suffered a dead leg. On came Ryan Shotton and Johnny Russell to switch the system from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1. It was a necessary change as Derby have been ravaged by injuries to central midfielders with Bryson and Hughes already out. Shotton came on at right back, pushing Chris Baird into the middle with George Thorne. With a makeshift midfield and a change of game plan, things weren’t going well for Derby at the half time whistle. There was however a promising chance just before the whistle with a well-hit Tom Ince free kick being palmed away by Konstantopoulos.

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Derby started the second half with much more enthusiasm. The players at the half time break would have had a chance to digest the miserable and in some ways unfortunate first half they had and motivate themselves for the second half much more. Derby had changed style to fit the new formation and instead of expending too much energy by rushing out at Middlesbrough with a reckless tempo, they wore down their opponents with good passing and patient play. Middlesbrough by this point had begun to look slow and lethargic. This was either a deliberate tactic on their part to conserve energy and slow down the game or owing to genuine fatigue, having played so many games so early in the season. Derby stretched the opposition, switching play often to Tom Ince who was a key playmaker in the second half, combining well with Johnny Russell in the centre at times to try to create chances.

However, it wasn’t until the late stages of the game that Derby managed to look likely to break through the resolute Boro defence. The away side were definitely tired when the 82 minute mark came and Chris Martin made a good near post run to meet a Johnny Russell corner. If not for the quick reactions of Konstantopoulos to get two hands on the ball on the line, Derby would have been equal. An equaliser was inevitable at this rate though and Derby finally got their reward on 88 minutes, after Thorne’s long ball to Martin missed its intended target and bounced through to Johnny Russell, who smashed home one-on-one with the goalkeeper. A few minutes later, the final whistle blew and the two Championship giants went home with a point apiece.

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Rams fans knew this game would be a tough test, but they could not have known that the test would be made even tougher with two forced substitutions before half time that threw the game plan out of the window. The first half represented despair for the white shirts on the field. Going a goal down and losing two players to injury meant a tough tactical decision for Paul Clement. The Rams boss has talked repeatedly about his team being more adaptable this season and games like this show why. The style of play had to change so dramatically from the first half to the second, and the players had to get to grips with their new instructions quickly. It took a while, but the patience paid off for Derby in this game and there can be few arguments that a draw was a fair result.

As the saying goes, there’s no rest for the wicked. Derby find themselves back in action again on Friday night for their TV clash against Birmingham City, meaning the Rams will have played 3 games in 6 days and they’ll be hoping that will be the time and place to pick up the first league win. A failure to win just 3 games into the season should be no cause for concern though, especially with a hectic schedule like that. Derby played well enough to win on Saturday against Charlton but did not get the result, and now they can add a spirited draw against one of the promotion favourites to their record too. The result sits on the Derby record despite having to deal with key injuries, and playing their backs to the wall. There are plenty of positives and negatives with what Derby fans have seen so far this season, but the important thing to keep in mind is that confidence is still dwindling and a win on Friday against Birmingham would go a long way to kick-starting a successful season for the Rams.