Stripperg-ram

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

My first game of the season. Haven't felt the excitement to come all the way from West Wales for a while due to cost and time, whilst being frustrated with team selection and particularly substitutions (too late and wrong).
Today, however was back to the feeling of the relegation season.
What an effort from all the team, you could see the togetherness. And all deserve credit for getting over the line when we didn't look like winning.
And well done Paul Warne for managing the game and substitutions to great effect 

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

I was sat in the east stand towards the north end - in line with our back 4 in the second half - and it was a joy to watch 
As most others have said Cashin and Foz were amazing. Mopped up everything and read the game brilliantly. 
I felt we invited more pressure than was healthy, but my god they dealt with it. Cash revving up the crowd in the last 10 mins was immense.
Felt like 32,000 voices singing was double the sound of the normal 27k. 
What a noise. What a buzz. 
cacophinous and raw. Brilliant.
At the time, really questioned bringing on Smith for Gayle when we had Waghorn on the bench but that actually gave us our best run of play for the last 20 minutes of the 1st half. Felt like we were on top. The 3 subs at half time seemed to disrupt that a bit, but apparently for precautious reasons. So if you think about it, we had 4 injury subs in the 1st half and still won the game in the 2nd. That’s the kind of thing promotion winners do. 🐏

Saturday 16th March
vs Bolton Wanderers
Pride Park   KO 1500
 
This match as a song by The Smiths: Some Games Are Bigger Than Others
Opponents Bio: I had the honour of starting the match thread for the reverse fixture so may be repeating some of these nuggets of insignificant trivia. So in the hope that the forums' collective memory is worsening here we go again.
Bolton Wanderers are, like ourselves, proud to be one of the twelve original founder members of the Football League. Not only that, the opening round of fixtures back on 8th September 1888 saw the two clubs meet for the first of 136 encounters (129 league, five FA Cup and two League Cup). Furthermore, Bolton winger Kenny Davenport has the distinction of being the first scorer in English Football League history as he netted after just two minutes of the game. The Rams did come back to win an opening day thriller 6-3 at Pikes Lane, Bolton in front of an estimated crowd of 3,000. 
Bolton can proudly boast that they have spent more seasons in the top flight of the English game than they have outside of it and have seen giants of the game like Jimmy Armfield, Nat Lofthouse and Michael Ricketts sport their colours over the years.
Bolton are commonly known as one of three nicknames; The Whites, due to the colour of their home kit, Wanderers, as it's their name, or The Trotters, chosen by their first owner who made his fortune selling laxatives.
They have former Ram Ian Evatt as manager and also had a run of three successive bosses with Derby links between 1992 and 1999 as they were led by Bruce Rioch, Roy McFarland and then Colin Todd. Players who have represented both clubs include Franny Lee, John McGovern, Jeff Chandler and Andy Todd.
Opponents Dangermen: Chief threat is 13-goal Dion Charles although he is doubtful with a knee injury. Victor Adeboyejo has ten goals but is likely out for the season which leaves Bolton with three principal goal threats; Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, ex-Ram Cameron Jerome and Aaron Collins whose five goals and ten assists make him a man to be wary of in our third. Josh Sheehan also poses a threat from midfield.
Opponents Recent Form: Wanderers will rock up at Pride Park in third place, one position and one point behind ourselves and buoyed by an impressive 5-0 demolition of playoff chasing Oxford on Tuesday night. They are, however, winless in their last four away fixtures since winning 2-1 at Cambridge. Defeats at Blackpool (1-4) and Wigan (0-1) followed that victory and their most recent away games have seen them draw 2-2 at both Barnsley and Exeter. Whilst we're looking for positives, they have conceded at least once in their last eight road games. Their overall away record for the season is decent enough with nine wins, five draws and five defeats.
Derby vs Bolton History: Derby have had by some margin the upper hand in the head-to-heads with Wanderers. In 129 meetings our record stands at W64-D23-L42. One statistic stands out in the meetings on our turf though and it is this:
Bolton have never won at Pride Park.
There, I've said it. 
Since we moved to Pride Park, Bolton have visited us ten times in the league and drew on their third, fourth and fifth visits but went back up the M6 with nil points on the other seven occasions. We are P10: W7-D3-L0 with 24 goals scored and just five conceded when the Trotters come to town. They haven't scored more than once in any game at Pride Park and, alongside two victories by a one-goal margin, we have merrily spanked their chubby Lancashire backsides 4-0 twice, 4-1 twice and 3-0 once. Now if that isn't tempting fate I don't know what is.
Expected Rams XI: Possibly same again do we think? Maybe Smith for Hourihane if the latter is still feeling the affects of Yiadom's brutal tackle in midweek.
My Tuppence Worth: I mentioned it elsewhere but we have winnable looking (I know, I know) games against Blackpool, Orient, Carlisle, Northampton, Wycombe and Cambridge to come in the run-in. If we can do the business in those then a couple of draws in the games against Bolton and Portsmouth will be enough for an automatic place. What I'm suggesting is that given the respective fixture lists of ourselves and Bolton, a draw wouldn't be such a bad result on Saturday. If it's a must win game for either side then, in my opinion, it is more so for Wanderers than it is for us.
Other Fixtures of Note: It's a significant round of matches as apart from second versus third in our match, it's fourth against first at London Road.
Peterborough vs Portsmouth
Barnsley vs Cheltenham
 
COYR
 

Derby County vs Reading
Tuesday 12th March
Pride Park   KO 1945
 
Opposition Bio: Reading have made more headlines off the field than on it in recent times as they find themselves in financial strife as a result of incompetency by their owner. Sound familiar? 
The EFL have seemingly cut them more slack than they did with ourselves but their patience must be wearing thin as deadlines to deposit sufficient funds regularly pass. The latest failure to pony up saw them docked further points and their season deduction now stands at six points in total. 
There was a further deduction of three points doled out, albeit suspended, after their understandably fed up supporters invaded the pitch and caused the early abandonment of their home match with Port Vale, the latters best result in recent months.
Where we had Mel Morris, Reading have Dai Yongge. This proves the old adage of being wary of baldies or fake Welshmen baring gifts.
Any sympathy we have for them should be tempered though by the thought that they are probably still laughing at us paying £3m for Nick Blackman.
Reading FC are known as the Royals, a distinctly naff nickname acquired after a young Prince Albert played a dozen games for the club before marrying Queen Victoria. Plus they hail from the royal county of Berkshire. They are also known as the Biscuitmen due to the town's association with the biscuit makers Huntley & Palmers. 
They are managed by Spaniard Ruben Selles and, having been relegated last season, will be looking to secure League 1 survival this season and kick on in 2024/25 under different ownership and without points deductions.
Reading are the proud holders of two notable records. In the 1985/86 season they recorded 13 straight victories at the start of the season in what is now this division and they also hold the record for the highest points total for their whopping 106 points in their 2005/06 Championship campaign. 
Opposition Form: Not too shabby in fairness. In the ten matches played since they beat us 1-0 at their place they have won a further four games with three draws and three defeats.
They arrive at Pride Park on the back of a 2-1 home defeat to Wycombe and in 18th place with a record of W12-D9-L16. It should be noted, however, that without their points deduction they would be in 14th position. 
Their away record is perhaps misleading as the bare stats of W3-D5-L10 needs to be looked at in the knowledge that they contrived to lose their first eight matches on the road. They all count obviously but their more recent form away since then reads W3-D5-L2. 
Their away wins have been at Wycombe (2-1), Stevenage (1-0) and Carlisle (3-1). They have also managed decent draws at Oxford and Peterborough.
In those 18 away games they have only failed to score on four occasions. Promisingly from a Rams perspective, they have only kept the one clean sheet on their travels.
Opposition Players: Going purely off the stats it would appear their chief dangermen are top marksman Harvey Knibbs (10 goals, 6 assists), Sam Smith (9 goals, 10 assists) and possibly Femi Azeez and Lewis Wing. They also have Robbie's son Charlie Savage, the experienced Harlee Dean and the wonderfully named youngster Jacob Hammond-Chambers-Borgnis who I hope gets a runout as I'd love to see if they put his triple-barrelled name on his shirt.
Rams vs Reading History: This will be the 48th league clash between Derby and Reading and the 54th in all competitions. The clubs' first meeting was a League Cup clash in October 1965 (1-1) but it wasn't until 22nd September 1984 that the Rams and the Royals met in a league fixture for the first time and the long wait proved barely worthwhile as we played out a goalless draw at their previous home, Elm Park. The return fixture would prove to be more memorable, for us at least, as Reading's first ever league visit to Derby in April 1985 saw the Rams win 4-1 with goals from Bobby Davison, Steve Buckley, Trevor Christie and Gary Micklewhite in front of a bumper crowd of 7,945 (really?).
That was not a taste of things to come in this fixture though as Reading have had by far the better of it. Our record on their turf is especially poor with just four wins in 24 visits. On Derby soil, though better as you'd expect, it is still deeply unimpressive. Our last victory at home to them was a 1-0 success in September 2021 but our overall home league record against Reading is W10-D3-L10. 
Expected Team: Same again one might think. Possibly a change in the middle to give more legs with Smith or Thompson in for Hourihane. 
Other Fixtures of Note: Something similar to Saturday would be nice. A Derby win and at least one of our rivals for automatic dropping points please. Their games midweek are:
Portsmouth vs Burton
Bolton vs Oxford
Carlisle vs Barnsley
Peterborough vs Stevenage (Weds)
COYR
 

Bristol Rovers vs Derby County
Saturday 9th March KO 3pm
Memorial Stadium (BS7 0BF)
 
Opponents Form: Decent recently with three wins in their last four matches including their last two. They currently sit 11th in the table albeit with no realistic playoff aspirations or relegation concerns. Whilst their home record in L1 this season is a reasonable W7-D5-L5 it should be noted that they have lost four of their most recent six matches on their own patch with wins over Carlisle (2-1) and Oxford (3-1) dampened by defeats to Blackpool (1-2), Exeter (0-1), Fleetwood (0-2) and Burton (1-2).
Opponents Bio: Rovers are managed by Matt Taylor who is in his third managerial role. After an impressive four years at Exeter he was the man chosen by Rotherham to take over the reins after the departure of our own Paul Warne to Pride Park. Taylor's spell there lasted 13 months before he parted company with the Yorkshire club in November 2023 as the Millers were struggling in 22nd place. Within three weeks, however, he found himself in the Bristol Rovers hotseat replacing the ever-delightful Joseph Barton. 
The club have played their home matches at the 11,000 capacity (3,000 seated) Memorial Stadium since 1996 after leaving their previous home in Eastville. They are officially known as the 'Pirates', reflecting Bristol's maritime history. Or because they just arrrr. Or maybe because their form is historically patchy. They are of course also known as the 'Gas', a nickname which was given them by opposition fans originally but was cheerfully adopted by the Rovers' followers who refer to themselves as 'Gasheads'. The name came about apparently due to their former stadium being sited next to a gasworks which produced a distinct aroma which would waft over the ground. Anybody who sits near a few of our more dedicated drinkers at Pride Park will no doubt relate to that.
Opponents Player Watch: Only one place to start here as the Rams go up against our former beau, Christopher Hugh Martin. The Wardrobe has scored 15 goals this season and is joint fifth in the top scorers chart for the division. Second top scorer after CM9 is Anthony Evans with half a dozen goals. Other notable players are ex-Rams youngster Luke Thomas, experienced former Swansea, Celtic and Preston man Scott Sinclair and Chelsea loanee Harvey Vale who I think we were linked with during the summer. I'm not sure if he's their number one or not but they also have a goalkeeper called Jed Ward who you can only sympathise with.
Rams Record vs Opponents: There have been three FA Cup ties between the two clubs but we'll focus on the 27 league matches there have been between Bristol Rovers and Derby County. The first meeting was on 29th August 1953 at Bristol so hats off to any Ram or Rover who remembers that match over 70 years ago. During the early years of the fixture it was Bristol Rovers who held sway with the Pirates winning the first three encounters, four of the first five and six of the first nine overall. Since then though it is the Rams who have had much the better of it. The overall league record for Derby against Saturday's opponents is as follows:
P27: W12-D7-L8
Away at Bristol Rovers our record  is: P13: W3-D4-L6   Whilst that isn't impressive it should be pointed out that we lost on our first five visits and since then we've gone W3-D3-L1 on their turf and are unbeaten in our last four visits.
Since our relegation to L1 for the 2022/23 season the Rams have recorded home wins against Rovers in both fixtures at Pride Park (4-2 and 2-1) whilst last season we conceded a debateable late penalty in a 1-1 draw at their place.
Other Saturday Fixtures Of Note: We will either be second or third going into the match depending on the outcome of Barnsley vs Bolton on Tuesday night. Peterborough are at home to Northampton on the same evening. On Saturday our priority is of course to earn three points in the south-west but we will be hoping for favourable results in at least one of the following games:
Blackpool vs Portsmouth
Exeter vs Bolton
Barnsley vs Lincoln
Burton vs Peterborough
Expected Team: My guess is that Derby will be unchanged from the 3-0 win against a desperately struggling Port Vale. With fit full-back options rarer than a salad in the City Ground boardroom I suspect it'll be a back three plus the two wing-backs who played well yesterday. 
 
Safe journey to those who make the trip and COYR.

Whatever we want could be a 4141 when attacking switching to a 352 when defending 

Sort of a 4-2-3-1, back 4 is Cashin at left back, Nyambe at right back then Nelson and Bradley as the cbs. 
Adams and Smith sitting deeper in midfield with Bird, Wilson and NML behind Gayle 

Looks useful.

I'd probably echo a change in formation like a few have mentioned already. Going with a 4-3-3 now we have CBT giving us deadly pace on the wings and having an extra midfielder in there. Can switch up to 3-5-2 if nothing is coming off
Wildsmith back in goal where he belongs 
Captain as the quarter back and I put Thompson in there thought he showed great energy and needs a run of games under his belt. 2 midfielders can roam forward on attacks and one stays holding, supported by quite attacking fullbacks 
Substitutes
Barks for any winger 
Fornah for any midfielder 
 
                      Wildsmith
    Wilson     Nelson  Cashin      Elder
                       Hourihane 
          Thompson            Bird
 
NML                                              CBT
                       Collins
 
 

I don’t know how to phrase or suggest this without seeming like I’m trying to damn with faint praise or imply a negative that could still come right/bear fruit, but…
Sibley? As our Lynchpin attacking threat..
 
I started this season with that feeling I usually get with a couple of players every season and that’s: give him a run of 10 games and he’ll come good/light up/become the messiah/save the day etc
I feel like that moments passed for me for Sibs. I know he’s not had a consistent run in a specific role, but, he’s not shown enough. I kinda see why he’s not the first name on the team sheet. Whereas before I was just hoping he would grow in confidence game by game and become our mbappe or something. 
feels like the dream has died, for me at least anyway. 
however - his best (and most consistent) spell was arguably at left back and now he has a chance to light it up there
i see why we can’t just drop elder after one average game where he dropped a massive clanger. But maybe Sibley is the left back we’ve been waiting for? 
Fozzys true heir??
 
I dunno 
it’s Wednesday and I’m drinking rhubarb gin
 

I don’t know how to phrase or suggest this without seeming like I’m trying to damn with faint praise or imply a negative that could still come right/bear fruit, but…
Sibley? As our Lynchpin attacking threat..
 
I started this season with that feeling I usually get with a couple of players every season and that’s: give him a run of 10 games and he’ll come good/light up/become the messiah/save the day etc
I feel like that moments passed for me for Sibs. I know he’s not had a consistent run in a specific role, but, he’s not shown enough. I kinda see why he’s not the first name on the team sheet. Whereas before I was just hoping he would grow in confidence game by game and become our mbappe or something. 
feels like the dream has died, for me at least anyway. 
however - his best (and most consistent) spell was arguably at left back and now he has a chance to light it up there
i see why we can’t just drop elder after one average game where he dropped a massive clanger. But maybe Sibley is the left back we’ve been waiting for? 
Fozzys true heir??
 
I dunno 
it’s Wednesday and I’m drinking rhubarb gin
 

I actually think Burton deserve a bit of credit
theyre certainly not the worst team we’ve played against 
elder has some responsibility for their second goal but it takes skill to score those having just come on on you’re debut 
and Seddon was a nuisance and took his goal well
they didn’t really offer much other than that - although defended well at times 
nothing more than an average league one team, but in such a bad league this year they could’ve been worse 

What a bunch of babies in the south street upper - I’m aware this is the loud minority we’re talking about but my god when it went to 2-2. 
 
Every player was a ‘TWxT’ or an F-ing idiot’ 
 
Elder should have been crucified according to some of these man babies. 
 
Sibley decided to cross and it was close to their keeper ‘F’ing rubbish you useless tw*t shouldn’t play for us again’. 
 
I get it was frustrating we let it slip but Christ look at the run we are on - get behind the lads. They did everything right to try and get back into the game they kept working space down the sides rather than going to the emergency pump balls forward panic tactic. 
 
And by all means criticise the players for their football but they’re not ‘tw*ts’ or ‘c*nts’ theyre just league one footballers who make mistakes occasionally. 

Also, why does Barks always look like he needs a good steak, some broccoli and a sun bed!
Get the lad to Hoar X hall tout suite 
 
(and yes  the ‘tout suite is not their honeymoon suite!!)

Also, why does Barks always look like he needs a good steak, some broccoli and a sun bed!
Get the lad to Hoar X hall tout suite 
 
(and yes  the ‘tout suite is not their honeymoon suite!!)

Also, why does Barks always look like he needs a good steak, some broccoli and a sun bed!
Get the lad to Hoar X hall tout suite 
 
(and yes  the ‘tout suite is not their honeymoon suite!!)

I actually think Burton deserve a bit of credit
theyre certainly not the worst team we’ve played against 
elder has some responsibility for their second goal but it takes skill to score those having just come on on you’re debut 
and Seddon was a nuisance and took his goal well
they didn’t really offer much other than that - although defended well at times 
nothing more than an average league one team, but in such a bad league this year they could’ve been worse 

Also, why does Barks always look like he needs a good steak, some broccoli and a sun bed!
Get the lad to Hoar X hall tout suite 
 
(and yes  the ‘tout suite is not their honeymoon suite!!)