Ellafella

1Wildsmith 6: shots-wise had the night off but had to srcummage & punch on a few crosses. 

24Nyambe 6.5 Had to work hard to repel his opponent. 

7Barkhuizen 6 Late fresh legs

35Nelson 8. Colossal. 

6Cashin 9 MotM. Marked the pterodactyl Ikpeazu out of the game with a masterclass of stout resistance. 

3Forsyth 6.5 Slotted back in seemlessly.

4Hourihane 6.0 In the quarter-back role; busy. Some of his dead balls were short and wasted.

17Sibley 6.0 Late fresh legs.

2Wilson 7.5 Mercurial feet danced his full-back into successive spins and a few telling crosses. Brought a good save from Ripley.

22Fornah 7.0 Brought constant presence and possession but tired notably.

8Bird 7.0 Always in the thick of a midfield battle; got very little time or space. 

11Méndez-Laing 7.0 Quiet by his own high standards but teed up JJ for the winner.

5Bradley Late fresh legs.

9Collins 7.0 Huge endeavour at the coal face & unlucky not to bag a scruffy goal. 

19John-Jules 7.0 77 minutes first touch BANG! Pre-destined & Deserved for overcoming relentless injury frustration. Could JJ launch his season from here-on. 
 

Derby deserved the 3 points built on a rigid and immovable defence, relentless defiance and sufficient attacking opportunities. 4 wins on the spin but only 1 where the game was controlled {Barnsley}  mean it’s always on a thread. Fans in fine fettle made their presence heard with consistent support. 

Half-marks allowed; please rate all subs. Closes Thursday @ 18:00. Results by Thursday 22:00. Average is 6.00. Therefore, when a sub steps on the pitch he is on 6 -that'sthe baseline. Also indicate ATG (at the game) Or Tv.

1Wildsmith

24Nyambe

7Barkhuizen

35Nelson

6Cashin

3Forsyth

4Hourihane

17Sibley

2Wilson

22Fornah

8Bird

11Méndez-Laing

5Bradley

9Collins

19John-Jules

1Wildsmith 7.5: That 5mm of glove material that Joe got on that goal-bound shot on 44 minutes to deflect it onto the right-hand upright was as significant in terms of the result as NML's surging drive into the back of the net on 90 minutes. Fine margins indeed.   

24Nyambe 6.5: Solid, firm and forceful. let's hope he likes the Derbyshire countryside & chooses to stay around come the New Year. 

35Nelson 7.5: An outstanding presence, but defence must take a collective -0.5 for allowing what we all predicted pre-match.  

6Cashin 7.5: Blocked, headed tackled. Always an offensive threat at corners with his rabbit-like spring but must learn to time it so his headers are not gentle lobs to their keeper.

17Sibley 6.5: Solid in defence albeit beaten on a couple of occasions. Switched position and arguably should have finished off the 1v1. Needs a run of games as any player does.   

4Hourihane 6.5: A couple of lovely balls into the box from corners but we need more defence-splitting passes as an option 2 rather than constant balls outside to the wings.

7Barkhuizen 5.5: His cut inside and sideways running is becoming habitual. Needs to re-set his own game-plan. 

2Wilson 6.5: Should've been introduced sooner; showed his obvious threat quickly and helped to unsettle Gas defenders.

12Smith 5.5: Too frequently bossed off the ball I'm afraid & provides insufficient amends elsewhere. 

22Fornah 7.5 Power, big appetite and great assist for the winner. If Rams are to continue upwards trajectory Fornah has to start. No question. 

8Bird 7.0 The CPU of the Team; some delightful and often subtle contributions that go unnoticed. Central to our fortunes. 

5Bradley 6.0 Some sky-scraper hoofs late on to kill off the resistance. 

11Méndez-Laing 8.5 MoTM Burned the Gas defence off with pace and power when pushed further forward 2nd half. NML is the new McDick and his fitness and wellbeing is crucial to Ram's season. 

9Collins 6.0 Huffed and Puffed in vain.

10Waghorn 6.0 Late legs to see it out.

This game will always be in my memory for B4 who epitomised and personified what supporting a football team means. May his memory and example live on in perpetuity.  "Always remember this our club".  

Went to RamsTv full 90 & ffwd’ed to 38 minutes when Collo crossed from the left which flew high & wide & a lovely tribute from fans and @Owen87ITK “…a minute’s applause for Daniel Beavis who passed away …known affectionately online as B4 …& you will never meet another more infectiously enthusiastic Derby County supporter, travelled home & away to watch his beloved team & will be sorely misssed by friends & family …& this is a lovely tribute…” <crescendoes of applause & camera pans around showing fans applauding >. Very moving and will live in our memories forever. 🥲

Took my scrafe yesterday for B4 and it was cold. Remember a remarkable game last year so will be at this one too. 
The team is heavily reliant on NML {he got the 94th minute winner last season IIRC} so I suspect given how quickly this game is coming legs will be tired from yesterday. I’d keep Fornah in to start and we need Barks & others to step up.

We are 4th in the form table compared to Port Vale’s 2nd bottom so the extrapolation predicts a win for Derby. I’d like to see us win but a point would be acceptable. A defeat not acceptable if we have ambition but as we know Madam Football is a fickle mistress. 😲

Undoubtedly NML is a game-changing match-winner. Yesterday is proof positive of that. Warne needs to chaperone him carefully because we totally fire blanks when NML is absent. 
A huge January window ahead because without some significant incomings the odds are currently loaded against us being promoted this season. NML cannot keep shouldering the burden. 

Half-marks allowed; please rate all subs. Closes Thursday @ 18:00. Results by Thursday 22:00. Average is 6.00. Therefore, when a sub steps on the pitch he is on 6 -that'sthe baseline. Also indicate ATG (at the game) Or Tv.

1Wildsmith

24Nyambe

35Nelson

6Cashin

17Sibley

4Hourihane

7Barkhuizen

2Wilson

12Smith

22Fornah

8Bird

5Bradley

11Méndez-Laing

9Collins

10Waghorn

Well done @Owen87ITK 🐏

Come on @B4ev6is rallying call now🐏

It’s all for @B4ev6is today Derby County fans & players. Do it for Daniel. 🐏

1 hour ago, DavesaRam said:

‘Twas me that suggested “B4 is watching” in both the B4 threads, but LeedsCityRam is a good lad too! It actually doesn’t matter, so long as we sing it!

Apologies @DavesaRam. Senior moment. 🙏

@B4’s Sister May I say that inspirational posts obviously run in the B4 family genes because your contributions are superb.
 

I believe that as well as the applause every fan’s dream is to hear our names sung out {ie we are all failed football players and when we were 10 dreamed that would happen some day}. So, I’d like to second @LeedsCityRam’s (I think 🤔) idea of applauding on 38 and singing “B4 is watching, helping the fight! Guiding our heroes in black n white…”. 
I think that’s so apt. B4’s passing is so awful because he symbolises Derby County Fan-dom. Hundreds of fans have responded with words of profound connection with B4 before adding “…eventhough I never met him”. That’s an incredible testament to B4’s character. It’s profound in itself. I know you’ll be immensely proud of that. Everyone will miss him. 

Your call. No worries if you don’t go with this. Total respect. 

1Wildsmith 7.5 Not to blame for any of the goals. Pulled off 2 Gold standard saves and other in the silver bracket.

2Wilson      6.5 Rather wasted at right-back in the first half. A good thumping tackle but not as fleet of foot as previous game.

35Nelson   6.5 More mobile with the ball at his feet and robust.

6Cashin     6.0 Some stray passes; mobile and energetic but exposed a couple of times.

3Forsyth    5.5 Running on vapour after Saturday's travails; tired-leg passes in evidence.

5Bradley    6.0 His introduction was a roll of the dice.  

4Hourihane 5.0 The left-foot wand was a bit of a flappy-paddle; awful pass to their dynamo who galloped away unchallenged and whacked it in.

42Fapetu 6.0 Difficult circumstance to be introduced to. Filled the middle well and sure passes but mostly sideways when we need forward thrust.

7Barkhuizen 6.0 Goal will give him confidence but his subsequent play was sideways and his cut-inside has become a little predictable and he runs across the middle, keeping possession and seemingly looking for a pass with little obvious option.

12Smith 4.5 His positional play is often awry & askew; he tracked the chap who scored their opener but got no-way near close enough before the guy pulled the trigger. Thereafter he tended to play simple passes without taking responsibility for a creative output. Smith has a gargantuan task given our style of play and often looks solitary in a very key midfield spot. 

10Waghorn 6.0 Tried to effect the game but fed off scraps.

8Bird 🐦 6.0 Lost possession a couple of times & the more he tried to impact the less effective he seemed to be.

17Sibley 5.5 A great start by robbing the full-back on the press but faded quickly. Was that tackle some kind of frustration-vent and it produced the inevitable yellow. Red mist followed by yellow?

23Ward 5.0 Not mobile enough for me and whilst his crossing-gait is stylish, his crosses flatter to deceive. I counted 4 crosses which their keeper caught in regulation fashion; one good pin-point corner into the uncertainty-spot; too eager to cross at times but suspect he's being directed to control then cross in one movement.   

9Collins 6.0 One good header which brought a good save; could see the frustration on his face about the lack of decent service; 

I try and treat the twin imposters just the same. I don't blame the team or individuals but I do hold the coaching staff to account. Hindsight-assisted of course but perhaps a good Crewe side who have some good players were bound to have that much more zip - clearly 3 days after a tough victory last Saturday was not enough down-time to re-charge for our players. That is an insight/judgement that the coaching side failed by not using more "untried" Youth who would've matched Crewe on fresh energy. 

My main concern though is the one-dimensionality of our play; crosses into the box, time-and-again with no real aim; if defences are tall and brave, its a very unsophisticated issue to deal with and lots of teams seem more than capable given how few crosses seem to pose any danger. This style - flank the ball as soon as possible for the cross - neglects midfield. It becomes so much more obvious when we haven't got NML to be the player who unnerves the opposition and raises defenders' doubts. Consequently, if Smith has advanced there is ripe-green grassy space in the back-pocket between our defence and midfield. I could even see it from behind the goal in the South Stand last night. I suspect Warne sees it too and if I didn't imagine it I think I even heard him articulate it "as a risk". Yet it's more than a risk; it's a structural defect to our team. We have a Fornah and now arguably a Fapetu who both could do the CDM role and be more able to thread that eye-of-a-needle pass, so I'm curious why Warne doesn't mitigate the risk. Plan B needed.   Football is a very simple game, complicated by fools with formations and marker pens on white boards, so I get the need to persist and do the basics repeatedly; but there comes a time when you have to look again and tweak rather than rinse and repeat. Without NML we have zero enigma and a gaping hole 30-45 yards out. Crewe deserved their victory but our Achilles heel (that better @sage? 😜) gave them a big opportunity which they devoured wholesale.    

7 hours ago, B4’s Sister said:

The turtle post was my doing 😝 Daniel left his phone lying around unlocked so I started posting facts about turtles on his Facebook for my own amusement. After about of month of this, someone Dan worked with gave a small stuffed turtle because she thought he liked them so much 😂  That Christmas every present I gave Dan had turtles on them 🤣🤣🤣

B4 - loved Derby County; pink turtles not so much 😲.

3 minutes ago, Rampant said:

I was going to start a new thread but I'll just mention what's on my mind in this one.

If we all put down our Ram Goggles and looked at it objectively, just how good are our players in truth? How many of those who are usually in the matchday squad would we consider to be genuinely good enough for a top-two team in this league? And of those, how many would command a regular starting place in even just a lower mid-table Championship side? 

In my opinion it isn't that many, even for the top-two in our division. Bird certainly, Cashin, Wildsmith and Vickers probably, Nelson, Wilson, NML and Nyambe possibly. I hold hopes for some of the younger lads too, especially Thompson. 

The remainder though wouldn't, again in my opinion, be starting many (or indeed any) games for a Championship club that isn't on its arse (hello Wendies). That includes regular starters for us like Fozzy, Hourihane, Barkhuizen, Collins, Waghorn, Washington and Smith. 

As for Sibley, who knows what his true level is? I'm not sure anybody does and that seems to include several Derby managers.

So what's your point caller? Dunno really. I suppose it's that our squad is still unbalanced and basically isn't any better than our league position suggests it is. 

The players are plenty good enough. The game-plan is the problem. Crewe worked extremely hard for their victory so credit to them…but that’s the point, match Derby in the running, keep your shape and gaps will open up in front of Derby’s area. Endless balls out wide, lump in a cross and that’s it. Ward put in about 5 crosses late 2nd half and their keeper caught them all unchallenged. It’s predictable, unsophisticated and easy to absorb. Without NML we are very derivative in style. 

2 hours ago, DiggerB said:

Not Smith. He’s having a terrible game. Not on his own though. No life in us. Crewe want it more!

It can’t be easy playing mid-midfield in a Warne-ball team…but have to say he was totally off the pace. Sloppy in losing the ball, stray passes and easily by-passed. Gave away the fk that led to their 1st. Can’t understand why he didn’t change it sooner as it was clear there was plenty of fertile space in front of our defence. It was very apparent. 

Half-marks allowed; please rate all subs. Closes Thursday @ 18:00. Results by Thursday 22:00. Average is 6.00. Therefore, when a sub steps on the pitch he is on 6 -that'sthe baseline. Also indicate ATG (at the game) Or Radio (R).
 

1Wildsmith

2Wilson

35Nelson

6Cashin

3Forsyth

5Bradley

4Hourihane

42Fapetu

7Barkhuizen

12Smith

10Waghorn

8Bird 🐦 

17Sibley

23Ward

9Collins

5 minutes ago, Comrade 86 said:

Done mate. I've linked in this thread for context.

Superb @Comrade 86 Sir

Just now, Ellafella said:

 

If a few of us e-Mail peteweymouth@bristolrovers.co.uk the message may get through. 
 

16 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

This chap is supporter liaison at Gas. Maybe we can message him re: 38th minute applause for B4 at PP when we play Roverrrs. 

This chap is supporter liaison at Gas. Maybe we can message him re: 38th minute applause for B4 at PP when we play Roverrrs. 

On 12/11/2023 at 12:00, S8TY said:

Tuesday 14th November

  Pride Park Stadium  19:45 KO

Opponents    Crewe Alexandra - 4th in League 2

Played 17          W 9        D5      L3         GF 36    GA 25       PTS  32

Current Form 

H  Notts County  W 1-0 

H  Derby County  D 2-2 

A Harrogate   W  1-0

H Stockport County   L 0-2

A Crawley Town  W   4-2

H  Tranmere Rovers   W 2-0

 

Top Goalscorer - Courtney Baker - Richardson  8 Goals  

 

So after an impressive display and deserved win against Barnsley we move on to our FA Cup 1st Round Replay at Home to Crewe Alexandra 

The first game at the Mornflake stadium last week was a game we really should've won with how much we dominated the game and after going 0-2 down showed good character to keep going and get a deserved late equaliser to take us into this game on Tuesday under the lights at PP

Crewe have since beaten one of the top sides in L2 in Notts County with a late winner, a penalty in 90+8 minutes from Courtney Baker-Richardson who has now become there top goalscorer this season after scoring the winner.

This will certainly not be a walkover and think we really need to be right at it and get off to a good start and if we play like we have of recent I'm confident we will see our way through into round 2 but Derby as we know have a habit of making things hard for themselves sometimes 

Onto Team selection and PW will be buoyed by the recent results at PP scoring 7 and conceding 0 in the last 2 and think maybe the only changes may be due to injuries as Nyambe and NML  who looked to have taken slight knocks.

I suspect a strong nearly un-changed line up for this one and a victory will be a great way to go into the break at a time where we would probably prefer to continue but it will give us a chance to get a few fit Waggy, maybe Ward and Washington ?

I will see you all again after the International break 

COYR

p.s

After the devastating news from @angieram regarding Daniel aka B4 which has clearly shocked and affected  so many I would like to ask this of fellow Rams fans at the game on Tuesday and for the long season ahead please and I  sincerely hope this doesn't offend his family in any way.

If at any time during the match when his and our beloved Rams are playing , should a player make a mistake , a stray pass, miss an easy chance etc etc , before any of us think to berate or aim criticism at a player , maybe pause for a second think about B4 and then encourage and cheer on that player with the same enthusiasm  that Daniel would've done, as I'm sure he would love that...Once a Ram always a Ram !

#BeMore@B4

54 minutes ago, WystonRam said:

Scraves and Flanges still remains my favourite all time comment on this forum 😃

My own personal favourite was our erstwhile player "Mansion Bennett". Also like the one that @Inverurie Ramposted about being "Cherried up" by a good team performance or result.

We should start a B4 Thesaurus entitled "B4 - In his Own Words" and stick it permanently to the top of this Forum as a lasting tribute to the Man & his Immortal impact upon our shared Derby County Fan history. 

#B4EveraRam as well as #OnceARam

2 hours ago, angieram said:

Andy, who is Daniel's dad, has just rung me to say that he has started to read through all your wonderful messages today. They have made him and Daniel's mum Lynne, cry and laugh in equal measure. 

Andy, Lynne, Daniel's sister Claire, their poodle Marley (Daniel was his butler!) and all the rest of the family are very grateful for the kind messages.

Regarding a tribute, they would prefer a round of applause on the 38th minute of the next home League game against Bristol Rovers on 25th November. There will be more friends and family who know Daniel there on that day, so it would seem more  appropriate than the cup replay this week.

 @David and @Owen87ITK, I  don't know if you can help organise this? And is it possible to have a photo on the big screen or is that not allowed? 

Andy has also asked me to share this photo of Daniel's seat yesterday, with a big thank you to all who came up to him to chat or offer condolences. He really appreciated it. 

 

 

 

@Owen87ITK b4 absolutely deserves anything you can do to mark his passing. Thanks mate in advance. 🐏

1Wildsmith 7 Significant acrobatic save horizontally to his right 1st half. At that point he could’ve picked up a book & read for the remainder. 

24Nyambe 7 None shall pass-by this granite-rock right-back. Took a knock. 

5Bradley 6 Barnsley were spent when he saw out the last 10.

35Nelson 8 Stultified Cole completely. 

6Cashin 8 Perpetual motion of heading blocking & left-footed drives down the fairway.

3Forsyth 7 Vintage. Made in Scotland from Girders. Punctured any fight Barnsley might summon by killing the game with the 2nd goal. His piledriven shot became the 3rd goal. 

4Hourihane 6.5 Sufficient.

7Barkhuizen 5.5 Must do better and not waste gilt opportunity.

17Sibley 6.5 Brought a cutting edge late on and rasped the bar. 

12Smith 6.0 Contributed with short passes here & there.

8Bird 🦅 6.5 Not as dominant as we have come to know but won possession regularly 

11Méndez-Laing 7.0 Active & sharp but took a knock and was withdrawn.

2Wilson 7.5 Ran the full-back a merry dance with nutmegs, swivels & pirouettes a plenty. Joy to watch. Crosses never quite found white. 

9Collins 8.5 Takes MotM with 2 goals and a bullish performance. A penalty and a chested goal. 
 

Barnsley never had a sniff and were dispatched by a mentally strong Rams outfit. 
 

Today I type with tears in my eyes; I am devastated to hear the news of B4’s passing. I had the good fortune of meeting B4 on 3 occasions which I’ll never forget. His passion and indefatigable support were inspiring and on this Forum he led us countless times with his rallying calls and with his own brand of words. Let’s have a sea of black and white for B4 v Bristol Rovers. God Bless B4.