RamZone Match Report - Rams 0 v 1 Tigers
Thursday, 24th Feb 2011 12:02 by D.Sawit

The Rams put in a much improved effort at home and were the better team for long periods but good performances alone are not enough. More points lost, more pressure mounting.

Derby County 0 v 1 Hull City

Pride Park, Derby

The Championship

19:45pm - 22nd February 2011

Referee:

K. Woolmer

Attendance:

24,533 (1,576 From Hull)

Teams:

Rams:

Bywater (Severn 47), Brayford, Barker, Ayala, Roberts (Pringle 77), B Davies, Savage, Addison, Cywka, S Davies (Robinson 64), Ward.

Un-used Substitutes: Doyle, Bueno, Pearson, Porter.

Yellow Cards: Savage

Tigers:

Guzan, Dawson, Harper, Fryatt (Hobbs 87), Chester, Koren, Gerrard, Evans, Rosenior, McLean (Barmby 68), Belaid (Simpson 41).

Un-used Substitutes: Cairney, Devitt, Solano, Mannone.

Yellow Cards: McLean, Belaid, Rosenior

Goals: Gerrard (71)

Match Stats:

Possession: Rams 50% - Hull 50%

Attempts on Target: Rams 6 – Hull 6

Attempts off Target: Rams 12 – Hull 4

Corners: Rams 7 – Hull 5

Fouls: Rams 19 – Hull 13

Match Report by D.Sawit:

After over an hour of good football from the Rams, home fans were hoping their team may finally be turning the corner. A solitary goal from the Tigers Anthony Gerrard instead heaped more misery on Nigel Clough and his team while Hull pushed closer to the play off positions.

Clough returned the object of his dejection Tomasz Cywka to the starting line up in place of Paul Green who was out with a knee injury. Jamie Ward made his home debut and fellow forward Theo Robinson found a spot on the bench after his last minute move from Millwall.

The Rams started full of running and were passing the ball with more purpose than they had for many a month.

Miles Addison missed the target with a header early on before former Hull loanee Daniel Ayala did likewise.

Derby was threatening and Ward should have done better with a header that only just missed the target.

After half time the Rams were forced to replace goalkeeper Stephen Bywater with teenager James Severn who came on for his first league appearance.

Hull was obviously keen to test the youngster early and Matty Fryatt and Aaron Mclean shot from the edge of the box but both failed to trouble Severn.

On the hour mark Severn had to parry a Mclean shot while at the other end Bradley Guzan produced a similar save for the Tigers to deny Tomasz Cywka.

Gerrard finally broke the stalemate in the 71st minute for Hull who had been looking more dangerous as the run slowly had been sapped from the Rams. Hull defender Anthony Gerrard put away Robert Koren's in swinging corner.

The goal gave the Rams a second wind as they desperately searched for an equaliser with Ayala and Ben Davies both going close as they forced Guzan into two great saves in the final 10 minutes.

Savage produced a terrible free kick in the final minutes from a good position which summed up the Rams inability to capitalise on their opportunities over the 90 minutes. The home team squandered too many chances and wasted their hard work with poor decisions in their final third.

As has been the case for the Rams of late it was not to be. Hull held off a fast finishing Rams and remains unbeaten on their travels in the Championship since the September last year.

It was Hulls first win at Pride Park and their ninth game unbeaten while it is eight games without a win for the Rams.

The loss put the Rams under more pressure as they head to a struggling Sheffield United on Saturday. Derby desperately needs a win which would put more daylight between them and the bottom three.

There is no doubt the performance was a vast improvement and the Rams were by far the more productive and creative team on the day. The story though had a far too familiar ending as their opposition snatched the match from under their noses.

The new players need to settle fast and Nigel needs to get his chargers running through brick walls to ensure they get a result at Sheffield.

If he doesn’t then it could mean we spend the rest of the season with a sore neck as we are forced to continually look over our shoulders.

Managers Reaction:

Nigel Clough was heartened by the performance but dis-heartened by the result:

"That was our best performance for some time, over the course of the 90 minutes, I thought we were absolutely superb.”

"We restricted them to very few efforts at goal, but unfortunately one went in and once again we saw fortune is not on our side right now. What we do know is that the players cannot give any more than they are giving for us right now.”

"Despite the defeat and the precarious position we are in at the moment, we are hugely encouraged for the last 14 games of our season if that performance can be repeated.”

"I think our last few displays have shown we are close to turning the corner, apart from the first-half against Leicester, but when you're in the kind of run we're in, it is very tough."

"Our luck has been summed up inside two days with both goalkeepers. We gave Stephen an injection at half-time to see if that could help him through the game, but it didn't have the desired effect.”

"We had to introduce young James into the game, and he missed the corner for what turned out to be the winning goal. It is hard luck on James because what he did do he did well, but he will learn from it."

"Saturday's game is a big one, no doubt there, all we can ask of the lads is that they give their all again for Derby County."

New Striker Reactions:

Theo Robinson felt the Rams are not far away from turning things around:

"I thought we were unlucky, we played very well as a team – passing the ball and moving it quickly, which is a good thing.”

"But the goal killed us, really, and we couldn't find a way back into the game."

"I wasn't really settling in at Millwall as well as I'd hoped, so I've moved back to Birmingham and I'm looking forward to a new challenge now.”

"Derby is close to Birmingham and it's a good, established Championship club. I've got my friends and family close by, so that's good, and now I just want to play football."

Replacement Keeper Reaction:

Teenage Keeper James Severn was disappointed a goal got past him in his first appearance after replacing the injured Stephen Bywater:

"I was disappointed with the goal but there's nothing I can do about it now, it's in the past and I've just got to pick myself up and get on with it.”

"I will try to learn from this experience. It's all about how you react to making a mistake."

"It was quite scary at first but I managed to get into the game. It was just unfortunate how it ended."