Hector was the best

What a result! A win on the weekend should do it! 

Got to be our year 🙏

But our midfield is better than it has been all season with Adams and Smith? 
leave Bird on the bench! (Or even better in a cage) That way he can’t F it up for us. Can you imagine if he started and we got battered in midfield again.

Both sets of fans chanting "what's it like to see a hill?"

To be honest, I find these end of season games where nothing is at stake a little dull. 

Great work yet again with the match threads, these have been a different class over the last couple of months.
I for one will miss these after next week.
COYR - Hold your nerve and leave everything on the pitch for two more matches, we’ve got this.

Cledara Abbey Stadium: KO- 15.00
We’re on a mini-run, aren’t we, but despite having our fate firmly back in our hands, the pressure to perform remains; two wins from our last two and we’re back in the sunlit uplands of the Championship; a loss, or even a draw and potentially the pendulum swings again.
It’ll be interesting to see whether we might see one or two back in full training this week, but it’s hard to view the win against Orient as anything other than one of our most complete performances this season and this despite being far from clinical in front of goal. Will the confidence garnered see us approach the game with the same positive approach? One hopes so! Another slip up when seemingly set to turn the screw and inevitably, PW’s management will be under fire. A win and we head back to Pride Park with only Carlisle standing between us and our first promotion since 2007.
Our Opponents:
The club was founded in 1912 as Abbey United, and took the name Cambridge United in 1951. They played in local amateur leagues before joining the Southern League after finishing as runners-up of the Eastern Counties League in 1957–58. Under Bill Leivers's stewardship they were crowned Southern League Premier Division champions in 1968–69 and 1969–70, which helped to secure their election into the Football League in 1970. 

Recent Form & Key Players:
Off the back off two absolute kickings from Reading, 4-0, then a 6-0 hammering from Lincoln, Cambridge were held 1-1 by Northampton before closing out March with a 2-0 loss away to Bolton. April has seen them draw at home to Charlton and lose by the odd goal to Blackpool, before showing better form in defeating Wigan 3-1 at home.
Top of the scoring charts sits Gassan Ahadme with 11, with Fejiri Okenabirhie next best with 9. Ellis Kachunga is next best having netted 6 times in 34 starts. Sully Kalkai tops the assists list with from Jack Lankester and George Thomas with 4 and 3 assists respectively.
Rams Match Squad:
Hard to get away from the 11 that started against Orient, given the resounding nature of the win and the style in which it was achieved. A buoyant Paul Warne confirmed in the post-match presser that everyone came through unscathed and it was interesting to hear him saying that we had more energy coming off a shorter break than was the case at Wycombe, where he felt we lacked energy, despite the 8 day break.
The injury picture remains murky and it’ll be interesting to see whether Gayle and Bird might be fit enough to make the matchday squad. I’ll not bother with my selected 11, as I always get it horribly wrong and the gaffer seems to be doing a decent job matching squads to opponents without our guidance. Instead, here’s the top of the table as it stands:

Don't forget to keep an eye on @Caerphilly Ram's injury updates thread across the week, for any snippets on player's likely return dates. I'll append anything I see to this htread as best I can in any case.
The Promotion Picture:
Some key fixtures tomorrow night, none more so than Bolton’s home game against Shrewsbury, whom we know to be a strong and obdurate side, though one lacking the Trotter’s class edge. I’d expect Bolton to take the points, but should Shrews grab an early lead, it could make for rather tougher game.
Oxford, fresh off the back of their 5 goal hammering of Posh play hosts to Lincoln City, whose charge towards the play-offs has faltered a little in most recently. It ought to be a tightly contested affair and to be honest, I’d not be surprised by any result.
The aforementioned Posh have what appears to be a routine task against lowly Fleetwood, but what will be the aftermath of their humbling at the hands of Oxford on Saturday. Might they have a hangover?
Perhaps the best tie of the round features champions-elect Portsmouth hosting Barnsley. A point will surely suffice for Pompey, but I expect them to win and win well en route to a thoroughly well-deserved title win. They’ve been excellent this season and this despite being one of the few clubs with comparable injury concerns to our beloved Rams. It'll be good to see them back where they belong after some very difficult years of their own.
Of the weekend ties, the most interesting involve Peterborough, who have a tricky away game at Bristol and Bolton host Port Vale. It seems odds on we will be going into the final week needing to beat Carlisle to be absolutely certain of promotion and I doubt too many Rams fans will be counting their chickens early! 
Final Thoughts:
A brief digression is in order to congratulate Eiran Cashin and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, both of whom made the EFL League 1 Team of the Year. Bit miffed that Curtis Nelson was overlooked to partner Cash at CB, as for me, he’s been top of the pops for us, but I doubt he’ll mind too much if we win come Saturday.
A last word as always to all Derby fans travelling to the game, safe journey to and fro, Rams and Ramettes and hopefully plenty of good stuff to chatter about on your way home. Honestly, I think our away support has been as good as any in the entire EFL this season and they’ll hopefully be rewarded with another complete and controlled performance as we ourselves edge closer to that vital 2nd place finish.
COYR
BE MORE B4
 

Another year older in a League above....I'm not sure he's the answer ...but he had a great day today and that's all that matters for now.

Always rated Sonny Bradley. Never lets us down

The thing that Warne has really achieved is a colossal improvement in both our attacking and defending set pieces. 
Obviously the stats show the effectiveness off the attacking corners and free kicks - I believe we've scored more than any other of the 92 clubs.
However, I reckon the improvement in the defending from corners has been even better. For so many years, I've sat in the West Stand watching us defend set pieces with my hands over my eyes in terror. They had the same effect as Doctor Who had on six year old me. Now I'm relaxed enough to carry on a conversation. I expect us not to concede. 
I actually think that improvement is a significant reason why automatic promotion is in our hands with two games to go.

Attendance 30,247
5th highest today in all leagues and a larger crowd than at Forest.
………………………………….well done to one and all.👍🐏

Thank you Portsmouth FC

We will get automatics! and we will get promoted!!
We have it in us to pull these remaining results off but we need to get behind the team 🐏 
Not being hysterical at every miss kick and bad result!
Not using ridiculous and visceral vocabulary such as "Bottlers" and start praising the players you don't build player confidence and motivation by talking down about them, they are humans too! They read social media and stuff online. Maybe even this forum? think about that 
I've cant believe how reactionary this fanbase has become! I get the performances haven't been total football but we aren't there yet! we are a work in progress, you know?
We will deal with next season when we get there but for now, 3 games to go let's get out there and support and clap the lads on and off the pitch, comment on the socials with words of motivation and togethernes ❤ that's what's gonna bring us over the line.... plus I'm sick of looking at heaps of negativity on here 🤣
We are 2nd , remember. Start of the season we'd have paid money to be here 🙌🏻
and vibes are real, they'll feed of us it's all frequencies and vibrations ✌
Come on Derby, time for promotion 💪 🐏 ⚽️ 

It wasn’t a “chastening visit” to Wycombe, it was an improvement on last season when we lost, and a point closer to promotion.
Anyway, I came across the below on X today, said by a former Derby County legend who happened to be Bolton Wanderers manager at the time he said it. I completely subscribe to this philosophy, and I hope we can all embrace it for at least the last three games of this season. Too many of us seem to favour a “love the club, hate/slate the players and manger” kind of approach. That isn’t what we need. Let’s all be supporters as well as fans.

Personally wouldn't have Hourihane or Waghorn in the line up if I could help it. Hourihane runs like he's pulled both his hamstrings and offers absolutely nothing. Waghorn is just poor.
Surprising people wanting CBT on the bench cos he's had one bad game. Id start him.
Also find it bizarre anyone could possibly want NML up front. 
Id go with a 433. Hopefully Bird is fit. If he is I'd go:-
                 Wildsmith
Wilson, Nelson, Cashin, Sibley,
                    Adams,
              Bird, Thompson.             
Mendez-Laing, Collins, CBT
Smith for Bird if Bird isn't fit. We need energy in midfield.

Not trawled through all the matchthread (gave up around p40) but I think last night was a game that has summed up our season.
Take both those early chances and we would have been celebrating another "get the job done" win and admiring a disciplined second half defensive performance. 
But we all know to score two, we need six chances, not just two or three.
To create six chances, we need the football to flow. Ward makes that happen in recent games. He's injured, so we replace that role with Collins, playing out of position.  He's a striker, not a midfielder. We leave Tommo on the bench, who would have been the natural link between our deep sitting midfield two and the attack, would have been available for the pass from Wilson and Sibley (who were both desperately looking for feet to play into and finding no-one there) and who can press and harry just as well as Collins.
Warne needed to select either Washington or Collins, not both, and play an attacking midfielder. If he doesn't rate Thommo, he could have put Hourihane in there. 
He didn’t,  and we faltered. I wish Warne would stop trying to create new systems and patterns and just do the simple stuff sometimes. 
Footballers are a bit simple too. They play instinctively in patterns that are ingrained from an early age.
Take them out of their natural positions, play them in different systems and they have to think more quickly in order to be successful.  It fails more than it works. 
Add in the factor that our forwards aren't world beaters, we need to be giving them all the help we can to play their natural games. 
I think we were one player choice away from that routine win last night. So disappointing. 
 

Portsmouth get promoted AND win the league if they win on Saturday. After 12 years languishing in the bottom two divisions, they aren’t going to be on the beach. They might not necessarily win, but they will want it done as soon as they can, we would be the same. If they lose on Saturday then they’ll still very likely be promoted as Champions, but if one loss turns to two then doubt starts creeping in. We would be exactly the same if in their position.

Incidentally, Sporting Life rated two other chances of ours as Great - NML blazing the ball over the bar in the first half and Thommo having a shot blocked in the 6 yard area in added time.
None of Wycombe's chances were rated higher than Fair, so it would have taken much better finishing or a goalkeeping error for them to have won the game, whereas "all" we needed to do was take one of our 3 best chances.
Ineffective finishing will define our season if we're not careful, but that also encompasses players taking the wrong option or playing a poor final ball.

I didn’t realise how bad CBT’s miss was as we were up the other end. Just seen the “highlights” and that was shocking.

I don't see Bolton beating Portsmouth and Peterborough but I can see Peterborough winning their last 5. I think they'll edge us out by a point or two in the end. We'll look back at this game and Northampton being the clinchers. Maybe we'll win in the playoffs but I'm far from confident. We possessed no composure and second half ran around like headless chickens. Poor game management from the coaches and the players who needed to keep their heads and stick to the formula which has won us 12 away games this year. 

Why would any footballer want to control the ball with the goal only a couple of feet away and empty? CBT just fluffed a great opportunity, I fear that miss will hang heavy on the player 😉

Completely exposed our one dimensional way of playing, if getting it wide and chucking it in the box doesn't work we really have no clue.
NML, CBT, Collins were all poor, Washington looks like he won a competition to be a footballer.
Smith had a good game, as did Sibley and Wildsmith.
Warnes in game management poor as well, too slow to make changes in the second half and even when they did come he didnt do enough. Looked too scared to lose the point to actually go for it.
Its another game in this season thats a missed opportunity, and another game they bored me to tears.

I don’t think many of us were “stunned” especially with the result. I reckon most people thought it would be an ugly (actually Wycombe played better football than I expected) and difficult game that we’d probably have enough to win but the result wasn’t a shock. We’re (well me anyway) not stunned, just bitterly disappointed at such an inept and disjointed performance. Yes we had some great chances early on but these were largely down to breakaways aided by some poor defending. Once those opportunities had gone I don’t recall many occasions when we really looked liked scoring or putting together any sort of prolonged passage of play. It was all too frantic which I put down to tactics, formation and players individual performances.
I don’t think either Bolton or Posh will win all of their remaining games but the question is, can we? I see Orient being a difficult game that’ll well probably just scrape over the line in. No game is easy but we probably couldn’t have asked for a much easier final game. Based on our performances against Wycombe and Northampton, the Cambridge game worries me a lot. 

He should have stroked it across the box, not fizzed it at 90mph. Washington bottled it, like he did the chance he had against Blackpool the other week. 

Still had time ro take a touch and then sidefoot it in, no excuses, shocking miss that set the tone for the evening