Hoppo

Just when I thought we'd have to settle for the playoffs and concentrate on winning the FA Cup instead!
Excellent stuff - the sort of few minutes that makes the players and fans believe anything is possible, even catching the top 2. The sort of few minutes that makes people think this just might be our year.
Come on you Rams!
 

Been a fair few poor passes too. One or two good chances, but lots of wasted opportunities.
Have to hope they run out of steam as they are looking dangerous coming forward.

Man, we were poor . But these are the games you have to scrape a win from if u want to get promoted . And the Super Rams did it ?
The result is all that matters.

I said further above the 2nd half was tailor-made for Dobbin and Collins, and even though Dobbin missed some sitters, he's had their right back on toast everytime. 
If this isn't a sign of a team that's gonna go up I don't know what is. We fight, we scrap and most importantly we find a way to win. 
Port Vale are a proper tough team and we had to graft for it, but what a win!
COYR.
 
???

Dobbin what a guy ?

Boom

Very frenetic, almost had the feel of a cup tie but without much quality on show. We have the players with the ability to take the sting out the game but we seem to be getting drawn into a slug fest and rushing everything. 

We're hunting the ball down at every opportunity and pressing hard to win the ball back, it just seems that everytime we get it we don't have the composure to do anything with it and seem to play a long ball up. Not sure if that's the tactic, or if it's defined by the size and state of the pitch. Kniighty looks composed as always, but it's not been pretty so far.

Good save Wildsmith.

Typical  scrappy League 1 game but these are the ones when you have to dig in and scrape out the win if u want to get promoted…

Agonising! Good work pressing again to win it back, NML potentially picked the wrong pass… but that’s a couple of chances now in quick succession, got to keep going 

Hi Press from Smith wins the ball, NML crosses and Barks can't quite connect at the far post. Best chance so far.

Hi Press from Smith wins the ball, NML crosses and Barks can't quite connect at the far post. Best chance so far.

And here are the respective league tables for our last 3 seasons in this division after 26 games
2022/23

1985/86

1984/85

Just how good is NML? Man's a legend.

Its amazing how after  match we have the choice to talk about all the good stuff, or moan about the poor play, or who has let us down. Today we didn't have that choice. There is absolutely nothing to complain about from a derby point of view. And yes, like many I was worried by the team selection, enforced as it was, but it turned out to be "nay worries", as they say in Scotland.
Roberts is a good option to have at right back, and Curtis was safe enough, in part because of the lack of pace up front from Bolton. I know they have lost a couple of important players up front, but I don't think pace is their game. Their tactics were to lump it to the big man, or into the channels, and it didn't work. An important factor in this was our pressing, which I don't think I have seen as effectively employed before, especially as we kept it up all match. Thank you Jason knight for making it possible, and the new fitness regime!
A couple of times I had to wonder how Bolton managed to be in 5th place because they didn't really perform. The nearest to an attempt on goal in the first half was a cross that bobbled through to Wildsmith, and their only shots on target were at 56  minutes, 73 minutes and the goal, which should have been a goal kick. But they didn't perform because we didn't let them! And we have done that many times this season, particularly since Mr Warne took up residence.
NML had his defender on toast all match long, Max Bird has stepped up a gear, and our longing for him to toughen up was answered in only the 2nd minute when he bullied a Bolton player off the ball near the corner flag. And his pass to set up the second goal was an absolute peach. I've already mentioned Knighty, and it is good to see Hourihane, who was my least favourite  putting himself about with a bit of passion - I don't know what happened, but he has been a different player since he came back from injury. I don't think there is player who can be singled out for playing badly - yet again. And it is getting to what it was like for Mac 1, and indeed the days of Brian Clough and then Dave Mackay, when we didn't wonder if we could win or draw, but how may we were gong to win by!
Today was a great football match, and I went absolutely bonkers berserk for both the goals - something I haven't done for years, because they were two tremendous goals. I was supposed to walk back to the car after the match, but got there without knowing how - almost as though I had floated all the way back! What a feeling!

Difficult to say, I think Rosenior deserves credit for putting this team together. 

Before the match, there was concern about the ref, but right up to their goal, I thought that he had an excellent game. He played great advantage for our first goal and cautioned their player whilst we were celebrating, a lot of refs would have considered the goal to be punishment enough. 3 minutes injury time was on the short side, considering the substitutions and a bit of time wasting on our behalf.
The officials spoilt it at the end with their goal though, the ref should have seen that the ball was out, but his linesman was the main one at fault, how he didn't see that, I don't know.

Mendez Laing just ran 70 yards to take the ball off their left winger.
 

MOTM Barkhuizen, well deserved. Thought he was superb today.

It’s going to be natural for that to happen for some though. If we keep winning, keep playing well, but don’t get any closer it’s going to be disheartening.
There’s a long way to go, and we’re on course for a comfortable top 4 position which 99.9% of Derby fans would have snapped your hand off for at the start of the season.

Really measured and controlled performance from the lads today. Frustrated Bolton throughout and barely gave them a sniff until the final kick of the game while being super clinical at the same time. The score line really flatters them, though I’ll not be losing any sleep over that. They were very much second best today.
Quick doff of the cap to yet another MOTM performance from Barks too with both assists. He’s been our MVP in at least the last 3 or 4 games now and looks in prime form. A win against Port Vale will keep us firmly in the hunt. Made up with that performance, but then I seem to be every week right now. Long may it last.
COYR

MOTM Barkhuizen, well deserved. Thought he was superb today.