| Derby County | Middlesbrough | ||
| Wilson | 2′ | Hugill | 52′ |
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
62% 8 2 4 8 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
38% 11 2 5 12 |
Pride restored at the Park
New Year saw a new arrival at Boro in the form of Rajiv van La Parra who was eligible for this one and who had been at Rockliffe for a few days but whether that was deemed enough time to understand his new Manager’s philosophy and tactics was in the air until the teams were announced at 2.00pm. Derby meanwhile had the beast that is Bradley Johnson back in contention after a five game ban as was Tom Huddlestone who would be hoping to start this one instead of being on the bench as he was at Norwich at the weekend. Considering the result at Carrow Road it would be interesting to see if Frank Lampard’s Derby didn’t kept the same line up.
Derby had won just one of the last eight league meetings between the two sides coming last year in an embarrassing 3-0 victory in November against Gary Monk’s Boro at the Riverside. Derby’s last win on New Year’s Day came back in 2013 and ironically against Boro. The Derby team when announced was indeed the one that started at Norwich with Lowe coming in upon his return from a loan spell onto the bench. It was understandably too early for VLP but Pulis defied the hope that many of us had to see Tavernier starting but we have long since lost any hope of watching a Boro side set up to score let alone win games so out went Downing and in came Clayts to form a midfield with Wing, Saville and the “dangerous at both ends” Besic. Big question for the travelling army was would it be four at the back or three CB’s and would Howson resume his right wing-back role with Friend on the left? The drama started early before the kick off in fact as Flint was withdrawn with a pulled hamstring for Batth to get an unexpected start.
5th versus 6th got started with Derby kicking off and in less than 120 seconds Derby had taken the lead with a brilliant run from Wilson slid through by the unmarked Marriott between the Boro CB’s and Midfield, coolly slotting it past Randolph. Boro unfortunately had started on the back foot and it took around ten minutes after that before we cleared our heads. We lined up with four at the back with Fry at RB not that it made much difference because Derby were playing the ball around with confidence and we hadn’t registered anything even remotely close to an attempt with a quarter of an hour gone and indeed Wilson had another speculative effort from an uncontested free kick from distance. Derby’s kids were giving Pulis’s men the run around with all the possession.
Our best and only threat up until that juncture came on eighteen minutes with a Fry cross into Saville that looked like it went out for a corner but the Ref deemed it a goal kick. A minute later another claim for a corner came from a Boro free kick which Friend claimed his shot had deflected out for a corner but again a goal kick was awarded to the Rams. A Dael Fry earned corner saw the ball delivered in by Saville which was adjudged to have come off Friend’s head as another goal kick was awarded to the Rams as Boro had finally started the game, albeit twenty minutes too late. A series of blocks from Derby on twenty four minutes just outside the six yard box saw some hope that we just might start to seriously get into this game.
Scott Carson was now starting to take his time at goal kicks as the spell of Boro pressure was clearly raising concerns and showing that defensively Derby looked frail if pushed. A Wing corner arrived at the near post and was flicked on and bounced dangerously in front of Carson but nobody in a Red shirt was there to connect. On the half hour mark Lewis Wing let fly a shot that went wide but away from play Wilson went down with a mystery injury. A Saville delivered corner then saw Waghorn in his own box defending go down after a clash of heads with Friend and also allow time for the patched up Wilson to come back on. On thirty four minutes Keogh was laid out on his back after a Jonny Howson challenge as the home side were overly happy to take the sting out of the game at every opportunity.
A free kick won by Hugill to the right of the “D” of the Derby box was played a yard to the left by Wing for Saville to blast it but it was blocked by the Derby wall and the home side were now looking very susceptible. A cross from the right bounced in the box but Hugill just failed to connect and then a following Boro corner was cleared out but only for Besic to collect and drive back into the Derby box but a heavy touch Bosnian from meant it was just over the line as he crossed. At this stage Boro looked alert and lively, snapping quickly into challenges with the Rams struggling to get out of their own half. Just before the half time whistle went a nervy moment at the back for Boro saw a hoofed cross into Randolph’s box that was half cleared but then another cross from a follow on free kick conceded by Saville was headed clear by Batth.
Four minutes added time was held up by the fourth official and in a midfield scramble Marriott broke free, Saville lunged in recklessly and was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card as Boro’s hopes to get back into this game were nearly scuppered by a momentary albeit passionate rush of blood. The whistle signalling the end of the half followed shortly afterwards in a game that had saw Boro start in a lethargic manner allowing the Rams an easy opener giving Marriott acres of space to pick his pass out for Wilson. Perhaps the warm up injury to Flint had caused a bit of confusion between Batth and Ayala as Wilson fired home but the last thirty minutes of the half were all Boro. As disappointing as the sloppy start had been there was plenty to be optimistic about in the second half if Boro could continue where they had left off attacking instead of defending.
The sides came out for the second half with no changes for either side. I had thought that Pulis might have hooked Saville as Ref Rob Jones was under pressure from the home fans for retribution on the Northern Irishman. The second half kick-off was ordered to be retaken presumably as Clayts played it back to Wing out wide as Boro clearly meant to start as they finished the first, on the offensive. Harry Wilson lasted two minutes before he was sat on the turf again and had to be replaced by Huddlestone.
Ayala was forced into a low clearing header to concede a corner from which Boro broke and Howson was cleaned out for a Free Kick but when delivered in by Saville it was badly miss hit at grass height to be easily cleared for a throw in which was taken by Friend. A short throw from George “F” to George “S” was laid back to him by Saville and then George played in a great left footed pin point cross for Hugill to rise majestically in the centre of the box to make it deservedly 1-1 on 52 minutes.
Just after the restart Lewis Wing launched a free kick which was nodded on by Hugill to Batth in the six yard box but his header was straight at Carson who didn’t know much about it. Boro then upped the ante further as Ayala took his turn to go close. Boro now had their heads up and eager to get their noses in front. Derby pushing back now showed a little more intent and a Keogh challenge as Boro broke saw the Rams Captain laid out on the touchline at Tony Pulis’s feet clutching his head. I’m guessing that TP may have expressed some negative comment regarding the theatrics from the Irishman as words were exchanged. The game now started to open up a lot more and was swinging end to end with the home fans screaming at Boro’s apparent/alleged physicality at some of the challenges flying in.
Lampard brought on Holmes for ex Boro target Waghorn with twenty minutes remaining, shortly afterwards Boro had the lineman’s flag to thank as Derby had advanced menacingly into the Boro 18 yard box. Immediately before the re-start Saville was removed much to the chagrin of the home fans to be replaced by Downing to go wide left in a straight swap. Besic then got himself booked after giving the ball away cheaply centrally then redeeming the problem by clattering the Derby sub Holmes as he consequently broke free. With a quarter of an hour remaining it was all to play for as both sides were now trying to get the win. Lampard’s next and final move was then to send on ex Boro hero Nugent.
An in-swinging Derby corner needed Randolph to get a fist to it as the Rams were starting to push forward but the ball came straight back at Boro via Keogh who cut it back in to Huddlestone who shot from 25 yards out, Nugent dummied it in front of Randolph but fortunately it went wide. Derby were now starting to dominate the possession stats again and Boro looked to be sitting deep.
There were now a few weary legs in Red Shirts with Derby looking the livelier. Nugent tested Randolph from near the penalty spot as a ball was played in to him but Randolph managed to make himself big, stand strong and it rebounded away off him. Hugill was then retired after running himself into the ground for Assombalonga as the Ref ushered Jordan off the pitch with three minutes remaining. Both sides looked nervy as they probed, both only too aware of the consequences if they slipped up. There were a few hopeful balls pumped back and forth up field as the fourth official showed 5 added minutes on the board.
A free kick just over the half way line allowed Derby to pump the ball into the Boro box near the death knell which was cleared by Fry and then again by Friend. A Wisdom cross was cleared again by Fry and as Derby took the resultant corner it thankfully ran out for a Boro throw. Boro were now in full backs to the wall mode, defending, holding onto the point. Regaining possession we broke, set up Besic who then bizarrely passed straight into the path of Bogle on the half way line as the final whistle went and Boro had fought back to win a very well-deserved point.
After an horrendous start, looking punch drunk and out on their feet for the opening twenty minutes or so Boro fought back bravely and arguably were unlucky not to have collected all three points in the end. There were some very strong and committed performances notably from Howson, Friend, Hugill, Ayala, Batth, Fry and Randolph back to his best kept us in it but MOM for me was Lewis Wing who was out on his feet come the final whistle. That sleepy start for which I’m sure TP will not be holding back from when holding accountability forced Boro to put in their best performance for months to maintain their credible away form.
I would have liked to have seen fresh legs introduced sooner from Pulis and would have preferred Tav to Downing who looked tired especially contrasted with the energy levels of Nugent and didn’t really add anything or provide a much needed outlet and threat near the end. The other quandary I have is would we have put in such a proactive performance had we not gone behind so quickly so again the question that niggles (much as it did after the Blackburn game) is was it because of TP’s tactics or in spite of the tactics? I would like to hope that it showed Pulis that the limitations he thinks we have are perhaps not as severe as he believes and with Tav and now VLP could actually be much better.