Boro v Derby County
The Riverside Saturday 1 March KO 3.00pm
Well, you may say what you will , but I call this a proper derby game!
Understandable euphoria greeted our long-awaited win at Stoke. A huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders. It was as if the sun had come out after a long period of fog, murk and rain. Of course, the win will mean nothing if we fail to build on it by dispatching the team with the division’s worst current form. We are all expecting Boro to beat Derby, but we must avoid complacency and over-confidence at all costs. Carrick and his team must remember our last encounter with The Rams, which we were of course heavily tipped to win. It was the second game of the season against a newly promoted side; Derby scored early on after a horrendous blooper from Isaiah Jones, then parked several double-decker buses and a ton of barbed wire in front of their defence and infuriatingly kept us out for most of the game. It was something a number of sides in subsequent games had learned from and failure to break down a low block became a common theme of our early season.
Carrick went with a bold and imaginative team selection at Stoke, apparently deploying Azaz down the left (where he is said to have had his best game for ages) and Whittaker in the number 10 slot. Even Burgzorg was left out, which was a surprise to many. So was Iheanacho, which wasn’t. Anyway, the plan worked a treat, and showed that MC IS capable of a plan B. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the boss repeat the experiment on Saturday.
But will we have any fit central defenders? We lost Edmondson at Stoke and RvdB was already out injured. If his injury goes the way of many others I imagine he will disappear into the Crockcliffe black hole, so it may be a while before we see him again. I hope that’s not so. Let’s also hope Boro are keeping Fry wrapped in cotton wool. Ayling, Dijksteel and Borges can all play centre back, were told, but it’s hardly ideal. Perhaps Harley Hunt might get a game? Come back Matt Clarke, all is forgiven. Oh, he is coming back………. for Derby. Or maybe he isn’t, as the EG reports he picked up an injury at the weekend, unless of course that is just spin to upset our preparations? It was surely a big mistake to let him go, as this has left us under-manned and weakened in the centre-back department.
Derby recently ditched long-serving manager, Paul Warne after a string of poor results. It was a huge surprise when the new boss, John Eustace, decided to move from Blackburn, who are mounting a serious challenge for the playoffs, to relegation-threatened Derby. He has family connections in the area, I’ve heard, and he was apparently displeased that Blackburn’s owners, the Indian chicken farmers, had reneged on spending big in January, but even so! As job switches go, this is akin to Jeremy Clarkson becoming leader of the Green Party, or Pep Guardiola joining Southampton. The new manager bounce hasn’t happened yet, though: Eustace lost his first game in charge, a 4-0 walloping at QPR, and his second 1-0 to Millwall, thanks to big Josh. I’m really hoping he hasn’t got them organised by the time they come to ‘Fortress’ Riverside ( I nearly wrote ‘Waitress’ as we so often serve up wins on a plate for our opponents! ) Eustace will be supported by Steve Round, Steve McClaren’s erstwhile assistant coach at Boro, who is acting as consultant.
Derby have notched up only 8 points away from home, with just 1 win in their 17 games. They’re bottom of the league’s form table over the last 6 games, winning none and drawing two. Boro meanwhile have climbed to the dizzy heights of 21st, no doubt reflecting that win at Stoke.
Eustace was at the Stoke game. No doubt he’ll have been impressed by our offensive display. But he also saw us concede yet another daft goal and will know from his 2 Blackburn wins at The Riverside how vulnerable we can be, and this time potentially with only one recognised centre-half. So does he park the bus and hope to nick one on the break, or does he throw caution to the winds and opt for an attacking game plan? Derby desperately need the points, so he might be tempted to try the latter. If he does, I think we’ll win.
Finally, there’s an Intriguing sub-plot attached to this game. You may recall Steve Gibson filing a compensation claim against Derby, as he felt former owner Mel Morris’s selling of Pride Park to his own company was cheating and had generated significantly more income illicitly. SG claimed Derby had cheated Boro out of a playoff place in 2019. Wycombe Wanderers also filed a claim because Derby escaped relegation in 2021 by 1 point and relegated The Chairboys instead. When the administrators were seeking to sell the club and pay off the debts, these 2 claims, and especially Gibson’s, were said to be holding up the sale and risked Derby losing their right to a place in the EFL. This obviously created significant animosity amongst Derby supporters, but was happily resolved in time. What makes this more interesting currently is that Derby are in grave danger of returning to League One, whilst Wycombe look a strong bet for promotion: now there’s justice for you!
These two articles tell the tale, if you’d like to refresh your memory!
Clive many thanks for refreshing the memory and bringing things up to date with our next opponents.
I think Boro3 will be on show again against one scored by Derby ,
OFB
@Clive Many thanks for a positive starter. Great to see a Boro win after the five defeats in row. Let's hope we see five wins in a row next. We are capable of that, but cannot expect it to happen.
I really liked the starter and if I remember correctly there have been some high scoring wins against Derby in the past. Micky Burns, anyone?
I will also try to take part in the famous EXmil Challenge this season, too. And just a reminder for all the others, here is a link: https://diasboro.club/forum/members-lounge/exmil-challenge-2025/#post-34557
Up the Boro!
Clive,
Many thanks for an excellent overture to the game. I loved the 'Waitress Riverside' line and as for Fry don't even let him queue for a cup of tea in case there's a bit of jostling for the Fig Rolls and it all starts again. The 'Crockcliffe Black Hole' that must be a deep gloomy pool in the River Tees haunted by Boro's injury list.
Anyway you are right the win at Stoke was a massive boost, the sun is even shining here in Norfolk and it did make me wonder just who was behind some of those additions in the January window. The game has the potential to be a 'Typical Boro Banana Skin' so we need at least three if not four goals by-half time. They will fancy their chances I reckon so prepare for some Public Service Vehicle parking tests.
No forecast, I'll leave it to Marton Man, the Oracle!
All the best everyone.
UTB,
John
Always look forward to your openers, Clive. They are so well written, in a distinctive tone of voice, funny and on the ball in terms of their analysis. This was no exception, and Waitress Riverside was brilliant ("I assume that the waitress will be serving "Two soups"). Very enjoyable and greatly appreciated.
Thanks for opener Clive. I think that the Derby bus may be too hard for us to catch. I also thought about Harley Hunt playing this Saturday. when I looked he didn't feature in either the last U18 or U21 games. I wonder if he has fallen down the Rockcliffe black hole.
Forever Dormo: As lenmasterman has pointed out, you have missed Watford out of your entry for the Exmil Challenge.
Come on BORO.
Full marks for your starter, Clive - as erudite and humorous as ever. Maybe we should look forward to Waitrose Riverside - at least there’d be a free coffee!
@exmil - I have now put that right in a post sent a minute or two ago on the appropriate thread. Thanks.
Thanks Clive for the super Headliner, bringing a smile to my face in these disappointing Boro times.
We certainly cannot afford to slip up at home to Derby. One for the home fans, giving them something to cheer for a change, and two, to try and creep up the table towards an unlikely sixth place.
We have a reasonable (on paper) five game run, before we hit Blackburn, Leeds and then Millwall.
We really do need to be in the top by then.
Nice starter @Clive. Boro is clearly in uncharted waters here. On a winning streak of ONE! Clearly the sun has come out and all is well with the world. I won't, however, mention the dreaded Play-Offs. Oh no, not me! I might THINK about them but I'll keep it quiet. Our little secret....
I see that Boro are trying to come up with an anthem which will inspire us all in the way that 'You'll Never Walk Alone' does for Liverpool fans.
A tough ask I would have thought, but memories of the Jackie Charlton years might be stirred by 'You'll Never Walk Again'
You can start dreaming:
Play-Off Dates are published:
Thursday 8 May (1st leg 6th v 3rd)
Friday 9 May (1st leg 5th v 4th)
Monday 12 May (2nd leg 3rd v 6th)
Tuesday 13 May (2nd leg 4th v 5th)
All games kick off at 8pm.
The Sky Bet Championship play-off final takes place at Wembley on Saturday 24 May (KO - TBC).
I am pretty sure AV has had his hotel booked in London by now. Up the Boro!
You can start dreaming:
Play-Off Dates are published:
Thursday 8 May (1st leg 6th v 3rd)
Friday 9 May (1st leg 5th v 4th)
Monday 12 May (2nd leg 3rd v 6th)
Tuesday 13 May (2nd leg 4th v 5th)
All games kick off at 8pm.The Sky Bet Championship play-off final takes place at Wembley on Saturday 24 May (KO - TBC).
I am pretty sure AV has had his hotel booked in London by now. Up the Boro!
@jarkko I’m up in Ardnamurchan, miles from anywhere with no tv or WiFi on 8th & 9th. Should I be worried?
@martin-bellamy. I will be on a plane back to Spain on the 24th of May and not worried one bit. 😉😎
@mw-in-darwin. Harley Hunt is recovering from injury according to MC. A Boro CB being injured, now there’s a surprise. 😉😎
Great opener thank you Clive which I really enjoyed until I got to the bit about Derby’s away record and being just below us in the form table, what could possibly go wrong!
Add in the Eustace factor and it could all go wrong, I just hope not. I think he will play it tight and look to hit us on the break as he knows that if they come and have a go we will play through them and we should win.
Not had a draw at the Riverside since the beginning of January, just saying like. 😎
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@marupin bellamy
I’m up in Ardnamurchan, miles from anywhere with no tv or WiFi on 8th & 9th. Should I be worried?
And I’ll be on a Danube cruise so will miss all the ‘semi-final’ games. I have, however, kept the date of the final free, obviously. It’s the hope that kills you.
@jarkko Good point, although the last time I popped in they had no whisky for sale, which was very odd.
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@marupin bellamy
I’m up in Ardnamurchan, miles from anywhere with no tv or WiFi on 8th & 9th. Should I be worried?
And I’ll be on a Danube cruise so will miss all the ‘semi-final’ games. I have, however, kept the date of the final free, obviously. It’s the hope that kills you.
I intend to change my name to Marupin Bellamy by Deed Poll - I like the sound of it.
Some Derby injury news here.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0rzz7z9rjzo. Also we are not the only ones who get injuries Le Fee at Sunderland out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.
Some Derby injury news here.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0rzz7z9rjzo. Also we are not the only ones who get injuries Le Fee at Sunderland out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.
I wonder if he will be fit in time for the playoff final at Wemberley against the Boro 🙄
Some Derby injury news here.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0rzz7z9rjzo. Also we are not the only ones who get injuries Le Fee at Sunderland out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.
Sunderland are in that strange position of having nothing to play for until the play-offs. They can't catch the top two and are in no danger of being caught. We were in a similar position in the 'Coventry' year and we went into the play-offs on a poor streak and lost to Coventry.
It will be interesting to watch.
UTB
Oooops sorry, Martin!! I’d like to blame predictive text, but I can’t really, can I? There isn’t a word marupin in the English language. I must have switched to the Kazakhstani keyboard by mistake!
@martin-bellamy - And I'm up near Ullapool again next week, so I'll miss the Swansea (a) game. Can't yet think what to say about that game but I'll write and post the Match Preview early, from home in North Yorkshire just to be safe... Should be able to get coverage of the Ross County game up there though. Ross County, from Dingwall on the North East coast, north of Inverness, is the "local" team for Ullapool (on the North West coast of Scotland) and in fact its the local team for Ross, Cromarty and Skye as well as Caithness and Sutherland from the "top" of Scotland. It's mad really. It's as though you lived in Middlesbrough but your nearest league team was in Sheffield or Derby.
And its the same in the pubs where they advertise which singers or bands are on and where.
Imagine going for a pint in Middlesbrough and seeing a notice: "Next Saturday at the Cricket Inn, Totley, the return of Bill Mathers and his folk group; Next Tuesday at The Botanist, Sheffield, Michael Johnson on the piano..."