Rams raided by a lost art

Managerless Derby were tonight's opponents at the Riverside, eager to put an end to the fact that their solitary league win this season was away to Norwich at the start of October. Former Boro manager Steve McClaren had returned to his former Club in a Technical Advisory role yesterday for what would be his fifth spell at the club. That would indicate that Rooney’s role might be permanent or maybe another rookie may be shortly arriving but it would likely put paid to the Allardyce or Benitez theories.

This season Derby seem to be a side that enjoys plenty of possession but despite that, they struggle to keep clean sheets having conceded seventeen times before this evening with only a paltry five scored in reply. That sort of form would indicate that Boro should comfortably come out on top yet we always have that “Typical Boro” burden to compliment the curse of the Manager of the Month award which saw an end to our unbeaten run on Saturday.

Boro’s injuries remained the same as they were on Saturday with Morsy “close” to returning, Hall supposedly back fit, McNair fatigued, Browne injured and Fletcher out long term. Derby had Polish Winger Kamil Jozwiak declared fit after an ankle knock while Krystian Bielik and Colin Kazim-Richards were also available despite playing no part in the squad which lost to Bristol on Saturday. Former Liverpool and Bournemouth winger Jordan Ibe is still out having failed to appear for the Rams through injury since signing for them.

NW shuffled his pack adding a little more creativity in the form of Roberts and Watmore starting, providing the ammunition for Assombalonga with Spence, Coulson and Akpom all dropped to the bench. Neither Morsy nor Hall were on the bench with only eight of the permitted nine Subs listed. The man in the middle for tonight's game was Peter Banks.

Tav and Watmore were on the wings with Roberts floating behind Britt. Howson nearly put Britt through in the second minute but Marshall was alert coming out and collecting. In the fifth minute, Roberts was fed by Tav putting a tasty ball into Britt who saw his low shot to go out for a corner from the busy Marshall in between the Derby sticks. Early signs indicated that Boro had a little more impetus than usual.

Saville went down in pain after a challenge with Jozwiak who collected a yellow for his over-eagerness. The resultant Boro free-kick saw the Derby backline once again look unconvincing and porous. It wasn’t difficult to work out why they are rock bottom. They responded with their first serious attack ending with the clearly aging Rooney failing to make Bettinelli work after Dijksteel had slipped. Lawrence then won a corner for the Rams after a ball into the box was cleared out by Dijksteel. Rooney lofted the corner in with Bettinelli struggling under pressure, dropping the ball before recovering with Andre Wisdom showing his frustration towards the Ref.

With a quarter of an hour now gone Derby’s game plan seemed to be calmly building the ball from the back but their defenders seemingly embarrassingly both the belief and poise to bring it to fruition. Another Boro attack was instigated by new contract signee Jonny Howson, ending with Patrick Roberts earning a corner. As the corner came in it broke to Bola who took a quick shot under pressure but his attempt was rushed and skewed well off target.

Another injury concern for Boro arose in the twenty-third minute when McNair went down but fortunately, he gingerly got to his feet and able to carry on. The game had now failed to live up to its early promise with the game becoming very scrappy, dragged down to the lowest common denominator. While Derby’s defence still looked all at sea they were now getting a few attacks building and won another corner in the twenty-fifth minute. It was taken short to Waghorn and then back to Rooney but Bola was quick to read the intention and play the ball off Rooney for a goal kick to Boro.

Saville waltzed past two defenders to get a teasing ball into Howson with Britt surrounded by the visitor's dark blue away shirts. This was better from Boro but still very frustrating with thirty minutes now elapsed. A Rams move between Jozwiak and Rooney ended with a credible shot from 30 yards out from Bird, heading towards Bettinelli’s top left-hand corner but it sailed just past the goal with Bettinelli beaten. A warning sign that Boro needed to up their game and soon with Derby slowly growing in confidence.

After a few teasing balls in and around the Derby box Howson sent a cross in that came off Wisdom, Watmore headed it back across the Derby box for Britt to poke the ball home lancing that bubble of expectation and in doing so putting Boro deservedly one up.

 Just after the restart, a rejuvenated Britt had Marshall in action again. Watmore then lost possession which allowed Derby to get a ball into the danger zone by Byrne but Howson was once again Jonny on the spot to clear the threat.

Britt fired a ball towards the back post with Tav homing in but it went wide on thirty-eight minutes. Jozwiak then had a chance for Derby but was crowded out by two red shirts allowing Boro to break up the pitch, grouping Hyena like around the Derby eighteen yard box. Teasing and probing, Boro were looking for an opening but Derby somehow held firm. Boro recycled possession with the ball ending up back with Bettinelli who launched it back up with both Watmore and Britt chasing, Advancing Marshall cleared the danger but Boro came back once again, pressuring Derby with Tav eventually being fouled taking the sting out of proceedings and ending a mini onslaught on the beleaguered Ram defence.

Taking ain from twenty-five yards out, Britt sent the free-kick towards Marshall’s top left corner clearing the wall but like Bird's effort previously it just missed the target on forty-two minutes. The remaining three minutes of the half saw very little from Derby in what was the poorest showing I have witnessed from a County side since the 5-1 Riverside drubbing against Ravanelli's Rams in November 2001.

Derby had been dreadful but Boro needed to put them to the sword or risk throwing those tantalising three points away. There were some decent performances in the first half from Saville, Bola and Howson. Britt had looked much sharper than of late and whilst Watmore understandably looked a little leggy he set up the goal so all in all no poor performances from Boro but we really needed that second goal to kill the game as a contest.

Waghorn had been replaced by Sibley at half-time for Derby with Boro going same again. Dijksteel had to be alert to deal with Lawrence in the opening seconds but then Rooney picked out his half-time sub Sibley who sent his shot just wide of the far post. Rooney himself now looked to be playing further up the pitch. Off the ball Howson was brought down by a decidedly sub-par Lawrence, blatantly impeding him and earning a stupid yellow card just five minutes into the second half.

With Derby somewhat rejuvenated Boro had Spence readied to come on, clearly, NW had seen enough of the opening spell after the break. A foul on Watmore saw another Derby yellow card this time for Nathan Bird. Roberts and McNair then bizarrely managed to collide during a confused free-kick routine. If it was planned it was comedy gold but it certainly didn’t look it despite the ball ending up with Tav whose left-footed volley went wide. Derby then had a free-kick themselves sent in by Rooney but it was met by the head of Dael Fry. Growing a head of steam, another Derby free-kick was taken quickly, this time headed clear by Bola. Still no sign of that substitution from the Boro bench despite Derby making a nuisance of themselves.

Shay Given was next to be booked for the visitors as his histrionics managed to attract the fourth Officials and the Ref’s attention with the game now in the sixtieth minute. Not unusual to see a goalkeeping Coach being booked at the Riverside, just very strange that it wasn’t Leo who has been on his best behavior since NW arrived. A Patrick Roberts cross was blocked allowing Sibley to break away from the Rams but Dijksteel powered across the turf, snuffing out the danger.

In a double switch, Roberts then made way for Spence and Watmore for Johnson in the sixty-third minute. Upon the restart, Rooney met a free-kick from Sibley rattling Boro with Sibley then having another go, testing Bettinelli. A dangerous moment there and Boro certainly needed to watch Sibley who had kick-started Rooney’s Rams.

Thus far, Boro had started the second half looking a little lethargic, emphasised by Spence screaming at McNair to set him free but instead the Northern Ireland ever-present passed it back to Bettinelli. A third corner of the game came in the seventieth minute for Boro. It was taken short to Spence, cut in but fired over by Saville in what was a good piece of play by Spence.

Buchanan and Jowziak then went off for Derby with Kazim-Richards and Holmes coming on and Rooney dropping back into midfield, clearly no longer relishing his dual with McNair. Spence then skipped clear of two defenders, leaving them in his wake, setting up Tav who fluffed his lines but Bola was alert bypassing three blue shirts in the process of playing in Marvin who fired the ball back in towards the goalmouth and off the hapless Matt Clarke to put Boro two up. Since coming on the pitch Spence had been a real threat and probably played his best football of the season. Britt then made way for Akpom before the restart.

Derby made more changes themselves with Lawrence going off for Whittaker in what now looked an uphill task for a side that had only managed five goals all season before tonight. Dijksteel conceded another free-kick which was delivered by Rooney and as Sibley was about to acrobatically pounce a handball was spotted by Referee Banks and all was well again. Dijksteel then made an uncharacteristic error allowing Bird the chance to take full advantage with an effort but Saville blocked for a corner which saw Bettinelli and Clarke challenge but it bounced over the crossbar with eighty minutes now gone.

On eighty-five minutes, Saville countered for Boro quickly, Marvin Johnson had Akpom looking to receive the ball but Johnson curled it himself into the corner to put Boro three up. This one, in particular, was a rather nice spectacle to behold, something not normally seen from Boro Players, the art of scoring goals The two Subs had really influenced the game when they came on and sealed the three points, fair play to both of them for giving Warnock a selection headache for Huddersfield on Saturday.

A long clearance from Bettinelli was cheekily collected by the alert Spence on the edge of the box stinging Marshall’s hands to earn a corner. The fifth Boro corner came towards the far post bouncing dangerously but eventually collected by Marshall. Wing then replaced Tav to see the game out with two minutes of normal time remaining.

Four minutes added time came up with Derby now just going through the motions and Boro eager to keep a clean sheet. Those added minutes literally just petered out. The MOM was a difficult one for me, Saville was excellent, as was Bola, Fry and McNair had looked as imposing as Easter Island giants at the back, Johnson and Spence were superb when they came on but Howson just edged it. It wasn’t great as a spectacle but for Boro to hit the net three times in one game is a very rare treat indeed.