WharfedaleRam

Could it be ap04 has bought out Mr Clowes and all future matches will be decided on statistics and no one will meet pals, drink beer, experience great elation or great lows or talk about who deserved to win?

Could it be ap04 has bought out Mr Clowes and all future matches will be decided on statistics and no one will meet pals, drink beer, experience great elation or great lows or talk about who deserved to win?

Could it be ap04 has bought out Mr Clowes and all future matches will be decided on statistics and no one will meet pals, drink beer, experience great elation or great lows or talk about who deserved to win?

Just landed back in Leeds thoughts - overall, really pleased with that point & an enjoyable away day even if it absolutely hammered it down throughout. Obviously would've liked us to have held onto the lead but that was a big dog contest in front of one of the most vociferous home crowds in the country in atrocious conditions. It was vital we didn't get beat - mission accomplished & our destiny is in our own hands which with only 4 games to go, is a fantastic place to be.
Was impressed with how we handled the conditions & after a ropey first 10 mins, we definitely adapted better than Pompey - shifting the ball with purpose & seemed to relish the physical nature of the contest. It felt like a breakthrough game for Blackett-Taylor - he was electric at times & Pompey struggled to keep him under control. Obviously his run led to the first goal but he made a couple of breaks second half which nearly yielded a breakthrough, one of which needed excellent speed & control to retrieve an overhit ball from Wilson(?). Liked him rousing the away fans too & he deservedly got a rapturous ovation as he walked past the away end after being subbed. Same could said of Joe Ward too, another lad with serious potential & last night he stepped up with one great finish & one great hit that got the luck it deserved. The conditions screamed out for potshots at goal & Ward was intelligent & gifted enough to capitalise.
If I'm being ultra-critical, I thought Collins was on the field maybe 10 mins longer than he should've been - the lad had run himself into the ground but overall a pleasing pragmatic performance by management & team. Also bit confused by criticism of Mendez-Laing - he's coming off a recent injury, has had a long season & was always going to find it difficult on a pitch like that. I really like him & CBT as twin options - Pompey struggled with our counter attacking threat & I'm confident our remaining 4 opponents will do too.
Thought our away support was excellent - certainly made plenty of racket throughout & traded well with an excellent home support. Am pleased for Pompey finally going up after so many years in the bottom 2 divisions & whilst Fratton Park has its limitations, its a true football theatre with all the magic of a big game under the lights that you'd want.
A much needed 8 day break before we face the Waitrose parasites. Come on Derby 💪🐏

Perhaps the pitch and conditions played a part in that? Plus our threadbare, injury affected squad. Did we have the fitness and legs to press them relentlessly, letting them have the ball with time seemed fairly effective, save for a tired/half-committed tackle and the subsequent wonder strike to equalise.
My only criticism of Warne tonight would be the timing of the subs, IF he’d taken Collins off for Washington earlier we could speculate that the ineffectiveness of the tackle from Collins is a non-event with a fresh legged Washington closing him down instead.
But that’s a theory. The reality is we got a good point at Portsmouth which puts us 4 points ahead of Bolton and 8 points ahead of Posh/Barnsley. Yes they’ve got games in hand but even if they win their respective games in hand we’re still ahead of them all. It’s in our hands, we’ve got 8 days to recover and prep for the next game. I’m still optimistic 🐏 

a tad frustrated that we lost a lead twice... but no way is a draw a bad result.  
A cracking first half as a spectacle, and an almost classic away holding job second half.  Nervy throughout, and kind of relieved in the end.
If I'd have read the script before kick off, and new the outcome, it would have got a massive thumbs up from me. We may not have strictly played for a draw, but that draw may be the point that takes us over the line.
A very, very good night.
Well done, Super Rams.
 

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 have a good weekend my friend (apart from the result of course!). Being a similar age, we enjoy the Silk Mill when in town (does some good pub grub), the Dolphin usually has a decent pint (oldest pub in Derby) and the Exeter Arms. 
There's loads of choice if you walk into the town centre. Enjoy.

Dream finish would be for Will Hughes to come on and grab the winner.

Bearing in mind I  missed the Bolton game due to "Other stuff", I've gotta say, I thoroughly enjoyed this afternoon!
The walk in the sunshine to get there.  The queues at the turnstiles at 14:48.  The grit, determination and effort on the pitch.  The atmosphere from all points of the compass stands.  The cracking view of a cracking goal.  The relief at the final whistle.  The post-whistle celebrations on and off the pitch.  Heck, even the drenching from the 5 minute hailstorm on the way home!
No.  It wasn't a classic.  But it was bloody enjoyable, and I think every single one of us deserved that, after last week's all round poor output.
By jove... I do believe we're on our way... To the Championship, we're on our way...

Not been in the Noah's for years, It was like a zoo in there a mix n match of Derby folk...rammed to the rafters too, The nearest to blood you got was the meat raffle on Friday teatime 😁  

Hope you have a good weekend my friend (apart from the result of course!). Being a similar age, we enjoy the Silk Mill when in town (does some good pub grub), the Dolphin usually has a decent pint (oldest pub in Derby) and the Exeter Arms. 
There's loads of choice if you walk into the town centre. Enjoy.

I’m not for one second suggesting that I was anything other than a bog standard village footballer but I played all of my football at left back, despite being right footed.
Over time, you adapt and I could cross the ball, shoot or take free kicks with either foot. No excuses for those who play for a living.

I think that the best way to adapt to the injury crisis is to go back to the 4-3-3 so I’m personally not going to miss Bradley.
He’s had a couple good games and won a few headers from set-pieces, unfortunately that’s been about it.
Cashin and Nelson on the other hand are complete rocks. If you stuck Elder at LB and let Kane Wilson bomb on from RB, I don’t think we’d honestly be any less solid than with three at the back. We’ve basically seen that work.
You can also get more players in the final third which seems to be the only way to address the absence of Gayle/Collins.
Could be a blessing in disguise and rescue our automatic hopes but that’s probably the optimist in me.
From experience of following this club for coming up three decades, it’s far more likely that we are absolutely f*****.

Getting the feeling not much happens in Bilton.

Hope your dragon gets a visit from St George😉

Just caught up with this thread , wow, possible handball, Bolton the better side , attendance figures , poor defending etc, who cares , The Rams won , To The Championship we’re on our way COYR

Right - now you’ve done condescending somebody who was there as he is every match I’ll refer you to xG which showed us having a higher xG.
 
They had that shocking miss from the header - we had Curtis miss a free header from 8 yards in between the posts. 
They had that shot Wildsmith saved well. We had our goal. 
 
Chances were few and far between. Other than their chance in the first half and the last 2 minutes of injury time we were completely comfortable until half time despite losing our focal point. 
 
They played a better brand of football and on another day they take one of their two big chances and we find it tough. On another day we score the header from Curtis and it puts more pressure on them. 
 
At the end of the day they had to bring the game to us. A draw wouldn’t have cut the mustard for them whereas a draw would have been fine for us. 
 
Look back at my previous posts since about November 2022 to find my thoughts on our performances under Warne. Im certainly not a happy clapper. Im vocally critical but we did an absolute number on Bolton yesterday. 

You can’t make the point that if Gayle didn’t handle the ball, you’d be ahead of us, then just say “water under the bridge” when it’s pointed out that Bolton have directly benefited from a refereeing error this season too.
Had the referee correctly identified that Wildsmith didn’t handle the ball at the Toughsheet Stadium, and didn’t send him off, then we may have got at least a point from that game. That’s a swing of at least 3 points against an important promotion rival, meaning we would currently be 4 points clear rather than one.
We also conceded a last minute equaliser against Pompey which looked very much offside. Again, that’s a swing of 3 points. Add those two poor decisions together, and not only are we waving you goodbye in the distance, we’re top of the league.
But you can point to any given decision over the course of the season and say “what if?” I don’t think Gayle deliberately handled the ball. It was a handball, but the goalkeeper made up the ref’s decision by charging out and making contact.
We’re both in League 1, we both know the standard of refereeing leaves a lot to be desired. I’d argue we’ve been on the receiving end of poor officiating much more than we’ve benefitted this season.
At the end of the day, it’s tough sheet, and you just have to get on with it.

Yes how terrible. I imagine we would also surround a ref pleading for a red card for handball after the ball hits a goalkeeper’s chest. We won’ t mention disallowing a goal to give a penalty and awarding a penalty for a foul outside of the box as I am sure you came on here to apologise for all three of those events and Bolton magnanimously returned the three points after the game being the doyens of fair play that you clearly are. Bravo! 

Oh the irony of a Bolton fan coming coming on here complaining about referees decisions 😂

Derby 1 Bolton 3 Gayle

No way will we win this, Afraid it’s 1-3 to Bolton with Gayle FRGS

Have noticed we have played a few balls more directly to Gayle than we did with Collo 
Gayle has given us this option  like for the through ball where he was brought down , if you look you see Gayle point before arcing his run in between two centre backs and was eventually brought down
Also the through ball or long ball from Ebou where he wins a penalty is no fluke because he's literally telling who ever has the ball , I'm going to make that run and it gives defenders a question to answer , do they go with him or let him go hoping he may have mistimed his run
I really like Collo but I think without Gayle we don't  score those 2 goals on Tuesday because he has given us something very different
Also has a really good spring for balls in the air, if me I'd be looking to sign him up for next season already whatever division we are in