LeedsCityRam

Hi, Pompey supporter with our take on lasts nights game. I think the weather made the game less of a spectacular affair but the players, from both teams, put on a really good display. I thought Derby adapted to the conditions better than Pompey where the conditions negated the effectiveness of our wingers Lane and, especially, Kamara. I suppose you could say the same for Blackett-Taylor & Mendez-Lang, both players I would have liked Pompey to have signed. I think Derby quite possibly had the greater attacking threat on the counter in the first half whereas ours was a little laboured due to not being able to adapt to the conditions. I read with interest of the disagreement with your managers choice of the tactics in the second half. However, without a wonder goal he may well have got it right. Closing players down in those conditions was risky as slipping on the surface could let players in. Portsmouth usually play a closing down game but not so much last night. I think overall a draw was a fair result last night which probably benefits us more than your lot. 
I think the controversial situations were fairly evenly spread out. There was a handball leading up to our equaliser and I think VAR might have ruled out our first goal. Handling the ball by the keeper is a sending off offence normally but I think the ref got it right by allowing for the conditions. I don't think it was a 'nailed on penalty' because I think our player was looking to go down anyway, but on another day it could be given.
I thought it was a proper game of football from two famous old clubs. It was good to see the ground full with a decent away following that made themselves heard, which is normally difficult at Fratton Park. The game, allowing for the conditions, was a good advert for League One where both teams look ready for the Championship. 

Thanks pal. Thought your support was tremendous also, stayed with them even when trailing for a lot of the game. 
Agree point was fair & suits both teams. Hopefully see you in Championship next season, that atmosphere was wasted on the 3rd tier.

Thanks pal. Thought your support was tremendous also, stayed with them even when trailing for a lot of the game. 
Agree point was fair & suits both teams. Hopefully see you in Championship next season, that atmosphere was wasted on the 3rd tier.

Thanks pal. Thought your support was tremendous also, stayed with them even when trailing for a lot of the game. 
Agree point was fair & suits both teams. Hopefully see you in Championship next season, that atmosphere was wasted on the 3rd tier.

I was watching on tv but as @LeedsCityRam said that atmosphere is wasted on 3rd tier. This is a championship game, add Bolton to the mix also!
Really like Mousinho from when he was Burton captain. Always spoke well, the obvious choice as PFA leader then he’s taken to management outstandingly. Pompey have got lucky and tonight has confirmed (albeit not mathematically) they’re going up.
This is a good point for us and think it could well be decisive!! 

100% want Pompey to stuff Bolton! Couldn't give a damn about finishing top.Its vital to get out of this league this season.

Good point in the end that. Got undone by a screamer which can happen.
But on another night they could score that open goal and get a penalty (if that was us, I'd want a penalty for what Wilson did) it definitely falls into the category of "I've seen them given" and I would agree with Curtis Davies in that if it's anywhere else on the pitch it's a foul. 
But we defended well, held our shape well and it was a good away performance.
Now we've got 8 days to rest. A luxury no other team is getting.
I think 3 wins will do the job now. That would mean Bolton need 4 wins and a draw from their last 5 games. Which I just cannot see them getting.
If we can go to Wycombe and get a result, it will take the pressure off slightly for the remaining 3 games. 
Hoping Bristol Rovers can do us a massive favour on Saturday, but they seem to be on the beach, so I'm not hopeful.
Another thing with the result today, it means that Pompey can go up with a win at Bolton. So they'll still have something to play for.
Maybe have Bird, Gayle and Barkhuizen back for Wycombe away too. Who hopefully will have a Wembley hangover.
We can do it.
Up The Rams!

Great game of football from two teams who went for it! 
Great result and is one point closer to promotion. 

Thanks pal. Thought your support was tremendous also, stayed with them even when trailing for a lot of the game. 
Agree point was fair & suits both teams. Hopefully see you in Championship next season, that atmosphere was wasted on the 3rd tier.

Hi Rams fans,
Have been following your forum for a wee while and thought I'd stick my nose in.
Registering took a while but I got there in the end, so.
To quote Neil Young, 'Tonight's The Night'. I guess tonight's game isn't pivotal, but things might be a little clearer..
Last night's results didn't help either of our clubs, in the end it's in our own hands.
Main reason for joining Rams board is the family split that exists....I am Pompey, my son is Derby., He and I have had
little contact due to past ructions between his mum and I...Last time I saw him he was a part time Celtic fan. (He was
born in Scotland, where I lived and was married for some 20 years. I took him to see a couple of Pompey games but
he wasn't impressed, took him to my school where I was a goalie...unimpressed. It was only when my ex remarried that
the Rams bug seemed to bite. Dunno if picture will show on this thread.
Tonight will be interesting, even if it's a dull game. A draw would suit us fine and I have to say that our final games fill
me with some dread. We had a 'blip' earlier in the season and recovered. This time, any blip will not be recoverable.
I have followed Pompey for over 55 years (youngsters refuse to believe me when I tell them we have an innate ability
to mess up just as we're about to cross finishing line. (I guess this is what attracted me to Hearts when in Edinburgh,
very similar ground, fan base and fatal flaws!) How you can beat us....classified I'm afraid but we have some very obvious 
weaknesses you can exploit. Don't go into game looking for a point, teams that have done well at Fratton have come out
and taken game to us.
Why are we top of the league? Many fans mutter 'They're nothing special..have seen much better' These fans are often right.
Many of our performances have been sub-optimal BUT the one aspect that has run through most games is a newfound
belief that, even if we o 0-2 down, the situation is recoverable. Games last 95 minutes or so these days...we manage to keep
believing the situation is retrievable. It's this that has sent us to the top...plus a pretty stingy defence, a creative midfield
and strikers who, on their day can tear any League One side to shreds. Last game against Wycombe their left back wanted
to go off suffering from 'twisted blood'. (Gag borrowed from Man Utd, George Best joke.) On their day, Kamara and Yengi,
supported by Bishop and Saydee are a real handful.
Lat night's results went pretty much according to form but previous games have shown all the maths and super computers
in the world simply cannot predict what will actually happen.
I hope you guys go up....Derby are a 'proper' club, part of the game's history BUT...so are we. Nobody has a divine right to be
'top of the tree'.....Anyone else remember the hushed tones from tv pundits when the mighty Man Utd were relegated?
It was as if there had been a death in the family.
Treat both success and failure as imposters....keep supporting your club. Good luck to all Rams making the journey down..
I see a few travelled down over the weekend and have already sampled some of our local beers.
All the best Rams...., Nick 
 
 

Hope you good people make it back .✊

Probably the best away support I’ve seen at Fratton park this season. Draw was probably a fair result and I’d have taken that if you offered it to me before the game.
 
Safe journey back gents if you’re heading back tonight. I have a four hour plus drive to Norfolk now 🤣🙊. 

Our first game in “the 11-point season” was a 2-2 draw against Pompey.  I remember leaving the ground thinking “that was pretty good, I think we’ll do alright this season”.

I think we will go 433 for this game & look to hit them on the break....
Wildsmith - Wilson Nelson Cashin Sibley - Thompson Adams Smith - NML Washington CBT
Loach Robinson Ward Fornah Hourihane Waghorn Collins
With that line up we have some pace up front for the counter but also energy in the middle of the park. We need a midfield 3 vs their 3 as they play 4231

From a Pompey perspective, we acknowledge Derby are an outstanding team with quality players such as Mendez Laing, Sibley, Collins etc.
To beat Derby, we will have to be at our best. We have a lot of injuries still but will be able to field a competitive side.
I think 92 points will probably guarantee automatic promotion, so we probably need 6 more points. Still lots of work to do for both sides.
No outcome would surprise me here. We are capable of winning this, and you're more than capable of beating us too.
In the end, we might just cancel each other out for it to end in a draw.
 

Match Thread: vs Portsmouth (a)
Tuesday, April 2nd, Kick-Off – 8.00pm
Head to Head:
Two grand old clubs who first met way back in 1902 in the FA Cup, a game that resulted in a rather unsatisfactory 0-0 bore draw. The replay at saw us winning the replay 6-3 which doubtless gave the early Rams faithful a little more to cheer. Since then, there’s not been a deal between the two sides, with Derby edging the charts with 42 wins to Pompey’s 35.
Games won: 42
Games drawn: 23
Games lost: 35
The Status Quo:
Well, it’s looking good right now my fellow rams. Likewise for Pompey, who do look near to uncatchable now, though there doubtless remain some happy clappers like yours truly who will still be hoping Portsmouth slip up and what better place for them to begin their demise than in front of their own fans on Tuesday evening? That said, Portsmouth have arguably been THE most consistent side in the division, steadily accumulating wins after a minor, mid-season wobble. It’s fair to say that while they’ve continued their good form, our post-Xmas wobble saw us fall back a little, though if we look at the last half dozen games, we’ve actually outpointed them, indeed only Lincoln, who seem to lay waste to every team they meet right now, can claim to be in better form than our own beloved Rams.

The Key Threats:
There’s little doubt that Cody Bishop is their main striking threat with 16 goals and 2 assists to his name this season, but Pompey can boast other threats, none less than Paddy Lane who has netted 11 times this season, also weighing in with 6 assists. Abu Kamara and Marlon pack have 8 assists a piece, so it’s fair to say that Pompey have multiple attacking threats and they promise to provide us with our toughest game of the season and one in which Nelson and Cashin will need to be absolutely on their A-game if we are to leave with Fratton Park with anything to show for the game.
Team News:
Like most, I was delighted to see Collo return to the fold so swiftly and he looked pretty damn sharp to be honest. Perhaps the ‘rest’ has actually done him well! This is critical as for me, Wash and Waggy look some way off their peak and I suppose, given their lack of games this year, that’s easy to understand.
I was also delighted to see Korey Smith start and for me, he has to stay in the starting 11. He’s not entirely dissimilar to Hourihane, but his mobility gives us more stability, though that said, we did again leave gaps between the press and our back line against Blackpool and if we do so again against Pompey, we might find ourselves in some bother.
With a considerable injury list still hampering his efforts, Warne will again need to marshal his troops carefully and I’d expect a cagey performance from both sides where moments of quality will likely settle the game, rather than one side establishing outright dominance. I’ll drop another update on injuries etc, on this thread nearer the game, but I’d be looking at something similar to what we saw yesterday, with a couple of tweaks:
Firstly, I’ve assumed Elder is once more broken and that we’ll therefore need to use Sibbo in the LB role again. I’d have preferred him starting higher up the pitch, but we have so many missing that it’s a case of needs must. In so much, the back 4 pick themselves.
I’ve kept the same midfield as last week, with Smith again taking the starting role and Conor set to figure later in the game. Adams remains on fire and simply has to start every match now. The only other tweak I’d use would be to play Wash in behind Collo, assuming Jimmy is able to manage 60 minutes at this point in his return. That gives us something like the line-up below, but I do expect this to change, as I very seldom guess Warne’s selection correctly and I’m also hopeful we’ll have one or two more to pick from. CBT, now with some minutes under his belt, appears to be finding some good form and despite our injury situation, we'll have some interesting bench options all the same and perhaps he might even earn a start?


The Game:
I don’t think there’s any doubt that both sides have sufficient quality to punish any errors made and I think this will simply come down to which side best executes their game plan and who is most clinical with the chances they fashion. I’m going for a 1-1 draw with Nate to re-find his scoring touch and secure us another vital point. I think with both clubs and sets of fans riding high, it ought to be a great atmosphere though at present, there is some rain forecast. For anyone making a mini-break of it, please see some 'Things To Do' suggestions and links to some decent eateries below, as suggested by TripAdvisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186298-Activities-Portsmouth_Hampshire_England.html
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurants-g186298-Portsmouth_Hampshire_England.html
Enjoy the game my fellow Rams fans and safe journey to and fro.
COYR
BE MORE B4

Pompey fan, in peace.  I read (a lot) and posted (a little) when you were having issues with the ownership.
I just wanted to pass on my belated condolences for B4's passing - as an outsider it was clear how much he cared about your club.  It's lovely to see how much warmth he commands and how he's being remembered.
I'm sure it doesn't need explaining that I hope my club gets up, but having read some of this thread I hope you manage to make it up with us.  It's also a great reminder that football clubs are all about the people who support them.  Raising a glass to Daniel this evening. 

When Daniel died I kept seeing rainbows everyday. I know how science and weather works but I like to think that’s his way of saying hello… or guiding dcfc to the back of the net 😂 I got to write a message on the dcfc changing room white board for the team to read today. I asked them to score a goal for Dan. Ebou delivered 🐏❤️🐏

Derby County’s new manager 😂

A little bit of Daniel at Pride Park forever ❤️ Give him a wave when you pass the east stand 🐏

Completely this. I’ll doff my cap to Warne IF he gets is up, but, bloomin-ell, I’d love to see some sustained ‘good’ football from the Rams, circa original McLaren.

It’s entirely alien to me to effectively watch a team come to Pride Park and allow them to dominate play and possession to the point where to me it’s “anti-football”. Goes against every sinew of my football-loving being. Ok we got the 3 points and we looked reasonably comfortable but for me it’s high risk and not how I would ever set up a team to play. It’s not the spirit of the beautiful game. 

Great podcast that lads - Kane Wilson is a top man, very engaging to listen to & love his positive outlook on life. He does mention it a bit but he very much comes across as a street footballer who just loves playing & loves the tricks/individual duels that a lot of his peers from the big cities (thinking particularly South London here) specialise in. If he can add consistent final 3rd quality to the rest of his game, he's going to be a frightening talent.
After the debacle last Saturday, I also feel a little better listening to him talking about how the squad have reacted since. Roll on Friday.

My second trip this season to your great club, but this time I'm treating my Mrs to a couple of nights in Derby.
We are staying in a hotel 5 minutes walk from the ground, but we will be doing the tourist bit and was wondering if any of you good Derby folks could give us some good places to visit and any welcoming pubs too. We are late 50's, so no skate board parks or teeny bopper boozers please. 
Thanks in advance and see you Friday 😄 

Hey everyone - a bumper SBW podcast week as we've got another (mini) episode also out now.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6TJdnHd9UxPTD5NfupYBIm?si=uP-JobNmRNuKEsWPrK8Xjw

In our latest DCFC interview released exclusively in full to SBW Patrons, Richard and Chris spend 40 minutes in the company of the Rams' 'Brummie buffalo', Kane Wilson. Having established himself as a key part of Paul Warne's squad - not least with the winning goal against Bolton Wanderers this month - the 24-year-old told us how at home he feels at Pride Park, and his career ambitions. We also discuss:
- The squad's reaction to the Northampton defeat and how Warne has encouraged the team to bounce back.
- His distinctive playing style and whether he thinks dribbling is a 'lost art'.
- Being 'the buffalo' in the Rams dressing room
- His thoughts on Warne's management style and why he gets on so well with 'the gaffer'.
- His message to Rams fans ahead of the six crucial remaining league games.



I can honestly say, without any agenda, that KW was a very genuine, top bloke, who just loves football (especially dribbing and nutmegs...!).

The full version (32 minutes) of this interview is exclusive to the SBW Patreon - you can hear it by signing up for a free seven day trial, whilst supporting us on SBW and allowing us to do more stuff like this, here: www.patreon.com/stevebloomerswashing

Cheers!
Chris