Ian Buxton's Bat

Happy with that draw.
Barnsley’s next fixtures are pretty easy and that’ll have dented their confidence nicely.

ATG
1Wildsmith 6.....Spectator for most of the game. Much more composed than last couple of games when involved.
35Nelson 7......another decent outing
5Bradley 6.5....generally pretty good apart from 1 misplaced pass at the end that could have given a goal away.
6Cashin 7.5....very good again
23Ward 8..... he played like a proper wing back and did it very well. Some crosses are ridiculously good for this league
8Bird 7.....Let's be honest, their midfield was absent, so not his most difficult game - but he played well.
32Adams 6....see Bird. Not a lot for our destroyer to destroy. Strange to see him higher up but delivered a nice cross for Gayle
4Hourihane 6...not much time
17Sibley 8......a better LWB than Elder imo and, like Ward, actually played as one today. Second goal was excellent.
11Méndez-Laing 7.....much better than Tues. Constant threat
27Blackett-Taylor 6.......not much time. Possibly looked like he had more of a spring in his step today.
25Gayle 6.5....didn't do a great deal other than score but occupies defenders and looks sharp
10Waghorn 5.5....not a lot came off for him
7Barkhuizen 6.5.....not sure if he officially had a floating role but seemed to be all over the place (in a positive way) in the first half. Very good work for the 2nd goal  - pity he missed the close range effort. Not seen it back - not sure if it was a sitter
12Smith 6.....not much time
At last.....a game where you can relax. Not sure if we made Port Vale look bad or if they managed it themselves. Seen a few comments saying we sat back at 1-0. Not sure about that - thought we pressed on and could have been 2 or 3 up before PV came into it for a few minutes

ATG
1Wildsmith 6.....Spectator for most of the game. Much more composed than last couple of games when involved.
35Nelson 7......another decent outing
5Bradley 6.5....generally pretty good apart from 1 misplaced pass at the end that could have given a goal away.
6Cashin 7.5....very good again
23Ward 8..... he played like a proper wing back and did it very well. Some crosses are ridiculously good for this league
8Bird 7.....Let's be honest, their midfield was absent, so not his most difficult game - but he played well.
32Adams 6....see Bird. Not a lot for our destroyer to destroy. Strange to see him higher up but delivered a nice cross for Gayle
4Hourihane 6...not much time
17Sibley 8......a better LWB than Elder imo and, like Ward, actually played as one today. Second goal was excellent.
11Méndez-Laing 7.....much better than Tues. Constant threat
27Blackett-Taylor 6.......not much time. Possibly looked like he had more of a spring in his step today.
25Gayle 6.5....didn't do a great deal other than score but occupies defenders and looks sharp
10Waghorn 5.5....not a lot came off for him
7Barkhuizen 6.5.....not sure if he officially had a floating role but seemed to be all over the place (in a positive way) in the first half. Very good work for the 2nd goal  - pity he missed the close range effort. Not seen it back - not sure if it was a sitter
12Smith 6.....not much time
At last.....a game where you can relax. Not sure if we made Port Vale look bad or if they managed it themselves. Seen a few comments saying we sat back at 1-0. Not sure about that - thought we pressed on and could have been 2 or 3 up before PV came into it for a few minutes

ATG
1Wildsmith 6.....Spectator for most of the game. Much more composed than last couple of games when involved.
35Nelson 7......another decent outing
5Bradley 6.5....generally pretty good apart from 1 misplaced pass at the end that could have given a goal away.
6Cashin 7.5....very good again
23Ward 8..... he played like a proper wing back and did it very well. Some crosses are ridiculously good for this league
8Bird 7.....Let's be honest, their midfield was absent, so not his most difficult game - but he played well.
32Adams 6....see Bird. Not a lot for our destroyer to destroy. Strange to see him higher up but delivered a nice cross for Gayle
4Hourihane 6...not much time
17Sibley 8......a better LWB than Elder imo and, like Ward, actually played as one today. Second goal was excellent.
11Méndez-Laing 7.....much better than Tues. Constant threat
27Blackett-Taylor 6.......not much time. Possibly looked like he had more of a spring in his step today.
25Gayle 6.5....didn't do a great deal other than score but occupies defenders and looks sharp
10Waghorn 5.5....not a lot came off for him
7Barkhuizen 6.5.....not sure if he officially had a floating role but seemed to be all over the place (in a positive way) in the first half. Very good work for the 2nd goal  - pity he missed the close range effort. Not seen it back - not sure if it was a sitter
12Smith 6.....not much time
At last.....a game where you can relax. Not sure if we made Port Vale look bad or if they managed it themselves. Seen a few comments saying we sat back at 1-0. Not sure about that - thought we pressed on and could have been 2 or 3 up before PV came into it for a few minutes

Decent win.
Compared to recent games it was a decent performance…..although Vale were poor.
Big difference for me was that we played a back three rather than a back five,
Sibley and ward were both good and put us on the front foot.

Decent win.
Compared to recent games it was a decent performance…..although Vale were poor.
Big difference for me was that we played a back three rather than a back five,
Sibley and ward were both good and put us on the front foot.

Decent win.
Compared to recent games it was a decent performance…..although Vale were poor.
Big difference for me was that we played a back three rather than a back five,
Sibley and ward were both good and put us on the front foot.

Decent win.
Compared to recent games it was a decent performance…..although Vale were poor.
Big difference for me was that we played a back three rather than a back five,
Sibley and ward were both good and put us on the front foot.

Agee.
We should sort out a bonus system whereby the bonus is quadrupled if we win having been 2 or more goals in front at some stage.

100% agree with @archram re Ed's return to work. 
If ever I stumble upon other local radio match commentaries, I find myself thinking that I'm very lucky to have Radio Derby as one of my daily sources of news, post-match analysis and, when I can't get to matches, live commentary.
Some local stations are no better than the BBC website text commentary......"goal by Garnacho from edge of penalty area" .....for his overhead worldie.
ED is more like the text cricket commentary with a bit of humour, off-piste stuff ......and DCFC bias, which I understand is a matter of taste but which I think is much better than local radio average.
Over the years we've been very lucky to have some tremendous commentators and co-commentators who are hard acts to follow or work alongside........the legendary Graham Richards, who has been referenced multiple times here, more recently Chris Coles and even this season we've had Martin Match of the Day Fisher setting a pretty high bar. And, of course Dom D has been brilliant.........but, in my humble opinion, that doesn't make ED anything other than much better than average for local radio.
Similarly for co-comms......We've had some that are brilliant, less brilliant, and some that are more or less upbeat. Out of the current crop, I find Adam Bolder the best all-round package and invariably Darren Robinson has some interesting angles on games.......but it's local radio - and I think Eric is much better than local radio average.

We'll end up renewing come what may because it's a common interest in our family and, bluntly and selfishly, I think watching ugly football is better than gardening, shopping and DIY.
We're also fortunate enough to be able to make football part of a day out with meal and drinks which does mean that the footy doesn't 100% determine whether it's been a good day or not.
That said, if all games were night matches (and with the international breaks there are too many) I don't think we'd bother with PW in league 1 because that is more of a work-drive-football-drive-bed scenario with not a lot to dilute your boredom/disappointment when games or results are poor. 
We could cherry pick games (as I think a lot will do) but I can't be faffed with the faffing.
Basically we'll renew because we love the club.....and I'm lazy.

We'll end up renewing come what may because it's a common interest in our family and, bluntly and selfishly, I think watching ugly football is better than gardening, shopping and DIY.
We're also fortunate enough to be able to make football part of a day out with meal and drinks which does mean that the footy doesn't 100% determine whether it's been a good day or not.
That said, if all games were night matches (and with the international breaks there are too many) I don't think we'd bother with PW in league 1 because that is more of a work-drive-football-drive-bed scenario with not a lot to dilute your boredom/disappointment when games or results are poor. 
We could cherry pick games (as I think a lot will do) but I can't be faffed with the faffing.
Basically we'll renew because we love the club.....and I'm lazy.

We'll end up renewing come what may because it's a common interest in our family and, bluntly and selfishly, I think watching ugly football is better than gardening, shopping and DIY.
We're also fortunate enough to be able to make football part of a day out with meal and drinks which does mean that the footy doesn't 100% determine whether it's been a good day or not.
That said, if all games were night matches (and with the international breaks there are too many) I don't think we'd bother with PW in league 1 because that is more of a work-drive-football-drive-bed scenario with not a lot to dilute your boredom/disappointment when games or results are poor. 
We could cherry pick games (as I think a lot will do) but I can't be faffed with the faffing.
Basically we'll renew because we love the club.....and I'm lazy.

He shouldn’t be on the ball that much. He should be playing at the base of a midfield 3, freeing Hourihane and Bird from defensive duty’s. Don’t care what anyone says, Hourihane and Bird are the best two midfielders in the league if played the correct way. 

ATG
I tend to try and be objective and don't give player scores based on the result but there's some low ones on merit.
1Wildsmith -  4.....Didn't come for crosses. Made one good save and they scored from rebound. Penalty.....the momentum had already shifted significantly so wasn't the game-changing moment some have mentioned but what was he thinking?
24Nyambe - 6.5...... Personally, I was happy with a solid back 4 and think he did OK
7Barkhuizen - 4.5.....I like TB but he did very, very little
35Nelson - 6.5......OK. Not as physically dominating as usual
5Bradley - 5.5......de riguer to blame him and Hourihane for most things but don't think he was horrendous. Was somewhat out of position for their second but Doris Stokes couldn't have seen the shambles that led up to it coming.
6Cashin - 8..... MOTM by a mile
2Wilson - 5.5....Not his best outing. Originally thought his pass to Adams was terrible but, looking at highlights, it was OK..just negative
12Smith - 6.....on the face of it did OK and I thought he was decent without being massively involved. Someone said in the match thread they'd like to see his stats vs Hourihane against Barnsley. Both 61 mins...Smith last night 30 touches, 58% passing accuracy.....Hourihane vs Barnsley 61 touches, 74% passing accuracy .......but Smith was excellent when he came on vs Barnsley IMO. With Adams in there as a destroyer what to we want/need?
17Sibley - 4.....did very little
32Adams - 6......very much involved, defended very well. Point off for mis-controlling the pass that led to their 2nd. Could hear him kicking that post from back of west stand.
27Blackett-Taylor 5.......his body language at half time and when 'warming up' in the second half is a worry. It looks like either he doesn't want to be here or PW doesn't want him to be here
11Méndez-Laing - 5......only really came alive in last 10 mins
8Bird 🐦 - 6......very patchy. Good-ish first half. Disappeared for 20 mins and then came back into it in the last quarter
25Gayle - 6......some good signs. We looked better as a team in the first half from just having him there......and maybe his style made us try to play a bit more football.
10Waghorn - 4......did very little. A couple of first touches that were best watched through cracks in the fingers

Kevin Friend was in the director’s box area.
Isn’t he some big cheese in the reffing hierarchy these days?

Hmmmm….
Reading through the thread I’m confused…we played a back 4 and stayed as a back 4 after Nyambe went off with Wilson slotting in at RB.
Changed to a 5 when chasing the game.
Dom D was corrected on this by PW in his interview so maybe RD got the formation wrong in commentary ?
Cashin was excellent at LB. 
The style of football in the first half was certainly easier on the eye than recent games with attempts to play passing football and we benefited from having a 9 on the pitch - just didn’t think we were that good at it.
Dire 2nd half. Charlton were awful in the first half and we managed to make them look like teachers playing against 12 year olds after the break.
Goals not PW’s fault and I get that he’s juggling game time with injuries but you could see an equaliser coming an absolute mile off - Nathan Jones was horribly whingy and negative to his players in the first half and I thought it’s no wonder they’re not playing for him….but he obviously delivers a decent half time team talk.
Ref was awful but got the pen correct. 

Hmmmm….
Reading through the thread I’m confused…we played a back 4 and stayed as a back 4 after Nyambe went off with Wilson slotting in at RB.
Changed to a 5 when chasing the game.
Dom D was corrected on this by PW in his interview so maybe RD got the formation wrong in commentary ?
Cashin was excellent at LB. 
The style of football in the first half was certainly easier on the eye than recent games with attempts to play passing football and we benefited from having a 9 on the pitch - just didn’t think we were that good at it.
Dire 2nd half. Charlton were awful in the first half and we managed to make them look like teachers playing against 12 year olds after the break.
Goals not PW’s fault and I get that he’s juggling game time with injuries but you could see an equaliser coming an absolute mile off - Nathan Jones was horribly whingy and negative to his players in the first half and I thought it’s no wonder they’re not playing for him….but he obviously delivers a decent half time team talk.
Ref was awful but got the pen correct. 

We didn’t play a back five 

Agree. Mainly because of the objectivity imo.
I watched the Debrief on Sunday and commented to Mrs Bat that it's always good to see that @Owen87ITK and SB can be critical when they feel it's appropriate rather than it being some sort of club Pravda output.

Agree. Mainly because of the objectivity imo.
I watched the Debrief on Sunday and commented to Mrs Bat that it's always good to see that @Owen87ITK and SB can be critical when they feel it's appropriate rather than it being some sort of club Pravda output.

So you're saying the text commentary doesn't make for a exciting and gripping experience? 
Goal! Barnsley 0, Derby County 1. Sonny Bradley (Derby County) header from the centre of the box to the top right corner. Assisted by Conor Hourihane with a cross following a corner.
It's almost like being there....

Fwiiw, because I see a bit of nitpicking over the last few pages, but Radio Derby’s coverage has been really good since the administration days. I have long thought that how the dealt with that season was very under appreciated by our fan base, but between Ed and Chris Coles they provided excellent interviews, discussion and updates pretty much every single day in a clear manner. I always remember Ed talking to the Wigan administrators early on who basically called what would happen ie, you’d get someone who claims themselves to be your saviour, they’ll fail and it’ll cause a serious contender to put their hat in the ring and get it sorted. Also the now infamous Knighton interview (KNIGHTON!)
But since then, I think Dom has been a welcome addition and really grown into his role but I do think the coverage has really stepped up with Colin Gibson returning. Tonight’s sportscene with Eric Steele was an excellent listen and was all from how Colin Gibson steered the conversation and they both made great points about Saturday and a couple of underlying problems. 
I know this post isnt really about Ed, I get he’s marmite but I do think he takes the brunt of a lot stuff that isn’t really his fault. I kinda see it that he’s a bit of an anorak and think he needs someone with a bit of ‘colour’ rather than maybe having two guys who are trying to elbow in their opinions, stats etc. But I still don’t think as an overall package you’ll get a better resource to following your club than what I hear most days through the Rams Daily podcast (sprinkled with a few looks on DCFCFans ofcourse and a bit of RamsTV when available), I’d really recommend people  take advantage of what we get through Radio Derby so we don’t end up bemoaning the fact it’s gone when it’s too late.

100% agree with @archram re Ed's return to work. 
If ever I stumble upon other local radio match commentaries, I find myself thinking that I'm very lucky to have Radio Derby as one of my daily sources of news, post-match analysis and, when I can't get to matches, live commentary.
Some local stations are no better than the BBC website text commentary......"goal by Garnacho from edge of penalty area" .....for his overhead worldie.
ED is more like the text cricket commentary with a bit of humour, off-piste stuff ......and DCFC bias, which I understand is a matter of taste but which I think is much better than local radio average.
Over the years we've been very lucky to have some tremendous commentators and co-commentators who are hard acts to follow or work alongside........the legendary Graham Richards, who has been referenced multiple times here, more recently Chris Coles and even this season we've had Martin Match of the Day Fisher setting a pretty high bar. And, of course Dom D has been brilliant.........but, in my humble opinion, that doesn't make ED anything other than much better than average for local radio.
Similarly for co-comms......We've had some that are brilliant, less brilliant, and some that are more or less upbeat. Out of the current crop, I find Adam Bolder the best all-round package and invariably Darren Robinson has some interesting angles on games.......but it's local radio - and I think Eric is much better than local radio average.

100% agree with @archram re Ed's return to work. 
If ever I stumble upon other local radio match commentaries, I find myself thinking that I'm very lucky to have Radio Derby as one of my daily sources of news, post-match analysis and, when I can't get to matches, live commentary.
Some local stations are no better than the BBC website text commentary......"goal by Garnacho from edge of penalty area" .....for his overhead worldie.
ED is more like the text cricket commentary with a bit of humour, off-piste stuff ......and DCFC bias, which I understand is a matter of taste but which I think is much better than local radio average.
Over the years we've been very lucky to have some tremendous commentators and co-commentators who are hard acts to follow or work alongside........the legendary Graham Richards, who has been referenced multiple times here, more recently Chris Coles and even this season we've had Martin Match of the Day Fisher setting a pretty high bar. And, of course Dom D has been brilliant.........but, in my humble opinion, that doesn't make ED anything other than much better than average for local radio.
Similarly for co-comms......We've had some that are brilliant, less brilliant, and some that are more or less upbeat. Out of the current crop, I find Adam Bolder the best all-round package and invariably Darren Robinson has some interesting angles on games.......but it's local radio - and I think Eric is much better than local radio average.