DavesaRam

Re handball or not, and if VAR was involved: there is one VAR rule that nobody has mentioned, which is "stuff what happened, it's Derby County, so no goal". This also works for any club that isn't one of the top 5 Premiership clubs.

SO?

I think it would be better to say that with the players we have we should have been making a much better job of getting out of this league. It is possible that much of the discontent is a left-over from last season and much of this one, as opposed to our current performances. I think following the watershed moments of Stevenage and Crewe when the fans turned on Paul Warne he has shown a much greater ability to change, and has produced a better form of football, with the last 3 matches looking more like football than ever before. I was in the “critical of Paul Warne” camp, but instead of bemoaning that we should be several points clear at the top, we should draw a line in the sand and give our full backing for the remaining few matches. There is a passage in the Bible that says “Forget the former things, do not dwell in the past, for I am doing a new thing, and it is springing up all around”. Given the change since that watershed period, I think the words are quite appropriate. COME ON YOU RAMS - LETS GO FOR IT!!!

And given the magnitude of the match, it was incredibly dull and lifeless because the Rams were hung over with bellies full of party food. It was a curious mix of heady celebration and total disappointment!

His legs have gone, so its a gamble nowadays whether what he can still bring to the team outweighs his lack of mobility, particularly when he is in a two-man midfield. It was clear that he wasn't offering enough on Saturday. My only complaint is why Thommo doesn't feature more, as he helped turn the match around on Saturday, and should be starting ahead of Hourihane.

The reason that Barkhuisen and Ward we t off is that they had both suffered slight muscle pulls and Warne didn’t want to take any risks. It might have backfired, but playing on with an injury could gave done so even more, especially with our existing injury record.

Thanks, Wanderlust for your contributions to the conversation. No nasties, just occasional bits of “tetchy”. And as you said your strikers were not as ruthless as ours have been, although having strikers who have the chance to be ruthless would be nice - all we have left is one old boy just coming back from injury and not up to speed yet! As I said in my match comments it was a nice change to be playing a decent team. Best wishes for the rest of your season.

South Stand, high up behind the goalposts. There was an extra “injection” of yellow coats at the south end of the East Stand, and the applause simply didn’t seem to want to start, then gradually got going. Thanks to all who joined in.

It was such a shame that the applause was compromised by a bone-headed home “fan” kicking off and getting thrown our of the ground. The applause still won, though. RIP Angie

What a great day out at the Park! The atmosphere was already stoking up while we were outside the South Stand for pre-match supping, and the fans were terrific all match long! Well done you Fans! It was a fascinating game of football, and it makes a change to see a good team out on the pitch with us. There wasn't a lot in it, and we started well, dispelling my fears that Warne would get us sitting back trying to keep Bolton out and then nicking a win. Only he did, didn't he? The bright start was just a smokescreen, and especially after Gayle went off we were sitting deep. So what? Smith coming on changed the pattern of the game as we started to get more influence in midfield. The triple substitution could have backfired, but such is the team nowadays that we soldiered on, and at times I thought Thompson was vying for man of the match. A lot of people didn't think he did much, but actually he started knitting the play together, and was having massive influence, because he is high energy, doesn't waste the ball and can spot a pass and can spot an interception. Putting Wilson on was also a great substitution - Bolton didn't know what to do with him - a bit curious because it turns out they tried to sign him a while ago! And although Bolton seemed steady and composed, when we attacked and put the pressure on, their backline looked like it was on the verge of panicking, and most certainly weren't comfortable with high balls. It is hard to single players out because no-one was holding anything back today, but Wildsmith, Fozzy and Adams deserve our thanks. And the ref - I know you are all waiting for this! Well, it was 28 minutes before I booed him! He did pretty well, although there a few poor decisions, the main one being Adams getting hauled to the ground on the edge of the 6 yard box late on in the match. Oh, and chasing after Fozzy for his first offence immediately after dipping out of a run of 3 or 4 handball decisions in a row. But given that in a match of this importance we can normally depend on the ref to cost us, he did just fine! My only regret is that we have come across a way of playing the works, that wins games and actually looks like football. But today we took several steps back to Warne's percentages football. Again, so what? We won. But please, Paul, don't abandon the football, because we are good enough to play that way and win. We are in a very strong position now, effectively making 2nd place all our own, and ours to lose or throw away. We are going up! And we have left our closest rival trailing in our dust! COME ON YOU RAMS!!!

Anyway, back to today. There have been big calls for Derby fans to make it a "Black and White Saturday", so I'm doing my bit. I've dug out my old Avon Tyres Rams shirt, with Avon now being used to advertise my beer gut, a black and white Derby hoodie, and some black and white socks my daughter bought me for when we have a family get together to watch an away match on Rams TV - while the match is on the three women there are blathering on about anything but football, then at key moments want me and my son to stop watching and explain what is going on. My constant reminders that "we are here to watch the football, so stop blathering on about plant pots, dusters and hamster's toe nails" have meant that my daughter had the socks marked with "SHHHH - The Match Is On". Haa very Haa! But today, the match is on, but DO NOT BE SHHHHHH!!!!!! I'll be in the South stand as part of a wall of sound! LOADS OF NOISE PLEASE!!!

The handball is a distraction. Your keeper was taking him out come what may, and he did it the way Reading had been doing their "Don Revie" tactics all night long - heavily disguised, but very effective fouling. As you have already been reminded, you only beat us at yours because of the same ref - who not only gave a wrong red card, breaking FA rules and procedures in the process, he also disallowed a perfectly good goal, and turned down two of the most blatant penalties we've seen all season, and believe me, we've seen a lot of blatant penalties turned down in recent years.

For the first two goals Oxford's defending was appalling - almost non-existent. There was also a lucky deflection, and two reasonably well crafted goals, so not as awesomely dominant is it might appear. Saturday depends on which Der y County turns up (and of late its been the good one), which tactics Paul Warne gets us playing, and which ref turns up. We've already had our customary good ref for the season, and mot out of character for the EFL we had a ref favour us with his decisions, so the match officials are likely to be back to normal again, so its anyone's guess as to what is going to happen. But if the Rams carry on with the way they've been playing, it will go well.

Are you watching me? 👀

The drip-feeding of the last remaining tickets is in part a marketing ploy to make us think the tickets have almost gone so that fans will grab the last ones available “while they still can”. If they show all remaining tickets it removes the urgency to buy, and sales will slow down.

The booking was for how he protested, yelping away like a spoilt brat of a child. There was contact - only slight, typifying Reading’s cynical approach.

I have the claim to fame of starting the “Sign him up, sign him up, sign him up” chant for George Thorne on his home debut. So on Saturday, shall I?

I reckon that out of an average attendance of 28,000, give or take two people either way there would be 27,998 others the same as you!

Well last night's ref turned down 4 or 5 stonewall penalties in the previous two matches he was "in charge of", if that is anything to go by. We're only about 30 penalties down now over the last three years!

We might have gone long from then on, but we were being very clever, because we were playing the ball around from one side of the pitch to the other making Reading run around chasing the ball and tiring them out so that mistakes come later on in the match. Kudos to the Rams! Last night was the best game management I've seen from us for some time!

It was great getting home last night having watched 90 minutes of football instead of a few minutes of footy and the rest of "kick and rush" percentages play!" People said that Saturday was the best we've played all season - I couldn't watch it, and won't justify having to pay for the full 90 video. But last night I think was at least as good - the best I've seen all season, for sure! Well Done You Rams! There are lots of opinions about the ref, and guess what? I've got one as well! He was absolutely awful, but I am also sure that he was very aware of his past demeanours. Because it wasn't only the Wildsmith red card against Bolton - he turned down clear penalty shouts as well. But he was also guilty in the away match at Plymouth last season, with a penalty against us for a non-foul outside the box, and again 2, maybe even 3 clear penalty shouts turned down. He has cost us 6 points and a big goal difference swing against, so he had to be "careful". Even so, last night he did very little about Reading's own "dark arts" until later on, and in the end their tactics were their own downfall. So Sybley getting clattered and not even a free-kick very early on, plus the non-red card for the Gayle foul got me worried, but showed Reading's game plan to stifle and disrupt and hopeful nick a point. How sad. The red card was the result of persistence - there were cynical and even nasty challenge going on all match long, which should have resulted in a lot more yellow cards than did happen, and as has been said, more than just the one red card. I could be forgiven for thinking that Don Revie had come back to life and gone to Reading as a "dark arts consultant". So did Hourihane dive? Maybe, but as we saw with Bradley for their goal, it doesn't take much of a contact to put a person off their stride, so given the dirty nature of Reading's play, a kick on Hourihane's heel may well have happened. And while our first goal may have been offside, the penalty was the right decision. Anyway, that's enough about the buffoon in the middle. As many have side there was only one side going for the win, and the result was well deserved. I was surprised by how early the substitutions happened, and also pleased that, although it may have changed our play, it didn't affect our control of the match. I was also well impressed with how we saw the game out. We did maybe sit back a little at the end, but instead of hiding around our own penalty area and saying "Come and get us" we carried on playing, and used the ball to make Reading run around chasing us. It was very measured and very controlled - well done, you Rams! I was sad that Sibley got himself his first silly booking of the season, but he had just been clattered (again) with nothing given, so went and got his own retribution. But he played well again. I don't know who got the official Man of the Match, but I would give it to Barkhuisen, who was awesome. Since he came back into the team its been like having a new signing! So bring on the Bolton. I know they got a hatful, but benefitted from some awful defending and a luck deflection, and one well-worked goal. Well be Orl Rite! Lets Do This!!

i agree in part with you, but a part of the problem is that even while we were still being sledgehammered by the EFL, Reading were getting the kid gloves treatment, and have continued to do so ever since. How they have been able to keep on spending through all this I have no idea, and although that minority singing what they did is unacceptable, it is at least to a small amount understandable.

Got into the South Stand concourse and Sky are featuring Birmingham v Middlesbrough! Picking a score fir that is a right poisoned chalice! I think a dull 0 - 0 devoid of any interest apart from 4 red cards, two to each of them!

Got into the South Stand concourse and Sky are featuring Birmingham v Middlesbrough! Picking a score fir that is a right poisoned chalice! I think a dull 0 - 0 devoid of any interest apart from 4 red cards, two to each of them!

‘Tis done my food fellow!