For Those Who Could not Attend

Team v Preston North End Saturday Nov 23 2019

Roos, Bogle, Davies, Forsyth, Lowe.

Bielik, Holmes, Shinnie.

Lawrence, Martin. Bennett

Substitutes. Wisdom, Dowell. Hamer. Knight, Paterson, Waghorn, Evans


Conditions: Flat Calm and wet. Early winter

Pitch: Immaculate

Attendance. 27,417

Ref. Tim Robinson

Refreshed after the International break with a season to pick up and some bad(ish) memories to expunge with 4 home wins on the bounce, The Rams faced a big challenge against 2nd in the League PNE - with Tom Finney not able to play - but with 3 wins on the bounce and the highest goal difference in the Championship. A very tough test indeed.

Well, it was a test the Rams came through very well. The first half was better than they have played all season (and a lot of last season). They started really well with crisp one-touch passing and much more direct attacks and much less sideways and backwards passing They still passed it out from the back but they had the ball in PNE’s half much earlier and much more threatening with our wingbacks first to the ball. Within 2 minutes Bennett raced onto a ball down our left wing and put in fine cross that their right back just cleared at the near post. Duayne Holmes was very sharp and controlled well to bring Jeyden Bogle and Tom Lawrence into play very effectively. After a neat lay-off by CM, Holmes got in a volley which beat the goalkeeper but hit the bar and went over. It could so easily have gone in rather than not. Just once, Derby nearly came unstuck by their habit of passing out from the back but Roos was just able to kick it clear.

PNE were lively and perhaps a bit over-confident. Derby were frequently able to exploit the open spaces they left. I could see why they were second placed in he Championship. Derby created some good chances which came pretty close. PNE’s tactics seemed to be to break up play as often as possible with some fouling and obstruction. On one of these occasions Graham Shinney was injured and it looked pretty bad from the crowd. Fisher was booked for the foul. Eventually Derby’s exploits were rewarded. A corner was taken by Holmes and Davies got a glancing header which Waghorn was just able to deflect into the net.

After half time PNE were much more dangerous. They obviously had received some sort of corrective discussion with Alex Neill, Derby absorbed the pressure and a few opportunities were created without us being able to increase our lead. Roos scared a few of us by his tentative approach to crosses and corners and a few times it seemed as if their big attackers would score. Fortunately, Derby’s defence held out and the final whistle came as a huge relief.

Negatives were the injuries to Shinney and Bennett. They were both playing well and if they’re out for a while, they will be missed. Nevertheless. Their replacements - Waghorn and Evans did good jobs and very much helped in keeping a clean sheet. A big positive was that Craig Forsyth - brought in at left central defence was calm, assured and had a great game. His return is very welcome, enabling, as it does Bielik to hold the midfield where he is so very effective. Max Lowe played very well and so did Bogle. The only criticism I would make is that sometimes they put in a poor cross or two when a good one would have opened them up. Bielik played very well. Tom Lawrence was awesome as was Holmes. Unusually Lowe and Forsyth jointly won the MOTM award. The referee had a good game though I found I was believing him to be favouring the Lancastrians. I reality I don’t think he was. He listened to his linesman when PNE appeared to score though there had been a hand ball. I had a good view of it but the ref did not. The linesman persuaded him.