LeedsRam1999

Saturday 16th March
vs Bolton Wanderers
Pride Park   KO 1500
 
This match as a song by The Smiths: Some Games Are Bigger Than Others
Opponents Bio: I had the honour of starting the match thread for the reverse fixture so may be repeating some of these nuggets of insignificant trivia. So in the hope that the forums' collective memory is worsening here we go again.
Bolton Wanderers are, like ourselves, proud to be one of the twelve original founder members of the Football League. Not only that, the opening round of fixtures back on 8th September 1888 saw the two clubs meet for the first of 136 encounters (129 league, five FA Cup and two League Cup). Furthermore, Bolton winger Kenny Davenport has the distinction of being the first scorer in English Football League history as he netted after just two minutes of the game. The Rams did come back to win an opening day thriller 6-3 at Pikes Lane, Bolton in front of an estimated crowd of 3,000. 
Bolton can proudly boast that they have spent more seasons in the top flight of the English game than they have outside of it and have seen giants of the game like Jimmy Armfield, Nat Lofthouse and Michael Ricketts sport their colours over the years.
Bolton are commonly known as one of three nicknames; The Whites, due to the colour of their home kit, Wanderers, as it's their name, or The Trotters, chosen by their first owner who made his fortune selling laxatives.
They have former Ram Ian Evatt as manager and also had a run of three successive bosses with Derby links between 1992 and 1999 as they were led by Bruce Rioch, Roy McFarland and then Colin Todd. Players who have represented both clubs include Franny Lee, John McGovern, Jeff Chandler and Andy Todd.
Opponents Dangermen: Chief threat is 13-goal Dion Charles although he is doubtful with a knee injury. Victor Adeboyejo has ten goals but is likely out for the season which leaves Bolton with three principal goal threats; Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, ex-Ram Cameron Jerome and Aaron Collins whose five goals and ten assists make him a man to be wary of in our third. Josh Sheehan also poses a threat from midfield.
Opponents Recent Form: Wanderers will rock up at Pride Park in third place, one position and one point behind ourselves and buoyed by an impressive 5-0 demolition of playoff chasing Oxford on Tuesday night. They are, however, winless in their last four away fixtures since winning 2-1 at Cambridge. Defeats at Blackpool (1-4) and Wigan (0-1) followed that victory and their most recent away games have seen them draw 2-2 at both Barnsley and Exeter. Whilst we're looking for positives, they have conceded at least once in their last eight road games. Their overall away record for the season is decent enough with nine wins, five draws and five defeats.
Derby vs Bolton History: Derby have had by some margin the upper hand in the head-to-heads with Wanderers. In 129 meetings our record stands at W64-D23-L42. One statistic stands out in the meetings on our turf though and it is this:
Bolton have never won at Pride Park.
There, I've said it. 
Since we moved to Pride Park, Bolton have visited us ten times in the league and drew on their third, fourth and fifth visits but went back up the M6 with nil points on the other seven occasions. We are P10: W7-D3-L0 with 24 goals scored and just five conceded when the Trotters come to town. They haven't scored more than once in any game at Pride Park and, alongside two victories by a one-goal margin, we have merrily spanked their chubby Lancashire backsides 4-0 twice, 4-1 twice and 3-0 once. Now if that isn't tempting fate I don't know what is.
Expected Rams XI: Possibly same again do we think? Maybe Smith for Hourihane if the latter is still feeling the affects of Yiadom's brutal tackle in midweek.
My Tuppence Worth: I mentioned it elsewhere but we have winnable looking (I know, I know) games against Blackpool, Orient, Carlisle, Northampton, Wycombe and Cambridge to come in the run-in. If we can do the business in those then a couple of draws in the games against Bolton and Portsmouth will be enough for an automatic place. What I'm suggesting is that given the respective fixture lists of ourselves and Bolton, a draw wouldn't be such a bad result on Saturday. If it's a must win game for either side then, in my opinion, it is more so for Wanderers than it is for us.
Other Fixtures of Note: It's a significant round of matches as apart from second versus third in our match, it's fourth against first at London Road.
Peterborough vs Portsmouth
Barnsley vs Cheltenham
 
COYR
 

Funny how situations can develop for the greater good. Losing Collins away at Exeter felt like a real body blow to our promotion chances at the time but picking up Dwight Gayle could well be the catalyst this side needs to secure promotion.
There's so much I like about Gayle - he is still very quick & mobile, he's always competing for balls with centre halves & as others have mentioned, seems happy to play with his back to goal and bring others into play. I didn't really expect the latter but it's enabling him to be a complete number 9. His finishing is still top drawer - 3 very different goals so far & shows his variety - one fantastic leap & header, a scruffy scramble inside the 6 yard box & last night's sublime touch & finish from a whipped in ball 25 yards away.
His mentality looks to be spot on too. He looks furious when he scores, like a man with a lot to prove & celebrates wildly when others score & when we won the penalty last night. Have also seen him berating team mates (Mendez-Laing against Port Vale I recall) which highlights his winning mentality.
Just goes to show the fallacy of quality players only being those who cost massive fees or wages. As Rooney's ragbag bunch of free transfers in 21-22 proved, there are a lot of quality pros out there who can be extremely effective as part of a unit. The way Gayle has already combined with Barkhuizen & Mendez-Laing is fantastic & bodes really well for a strong end to the season. Brilliant bit of business by the club & love that he's enjoying being here.
 

We entertained. Dynamic, aggressive, front foot football. Won, deserved to, and sent a noisy crowd home happy.
I haven't read through but if anyone's moaning they need to take a moment to consider their life choices.

If given the choice between being a team of sh*thouses that get promoted or some nice boys that get to stay in L1 for another season I'd take the promoted sh*thouses every single time.

I do wonder about some on here. We were miles better than them and I lost count of how many cheaty little fouls they put in tonight that weren't carded. We were also the only side that looked like scoring all night. Does anyone really think they deserved a point tonight? I really don't get the mardiness from some quarters. 

Well a bizzare game for a seasoned derby fan , we played well and controlled the game but strangely made hard work of getting the 3 points and a poor ref again but poor decisions went in our favour ,,, yep strange night 🤷🏻‍♂️,
three points and we are starting to look like a side , real variety of play going forward , players coming back from injury to give us a strong looking squad , win every game of the 8 and no one can touch us , it’s that simple , big ask but this squad look capable of doing that , of course that’s probably not how the next 8 games pan out but we are right in there looking every bit as good as those around us , we are not the poor imitation of our promotion rivals as some would have us believe 
come on derby💪💪💪💪💪

Adams is the real deal, Gayle is pure class and the 3-4-3 formation finally seems to be making sense (especially to Sibs who looks like a new player). The ref was having a great game until he suddenly wasn't, but it's about time we got some decisions going our way.
Just 8 more cup finals to go, but we're hitting our stride at just the right time. I reckon we'll do it.

“2-1 to the referee” 
 
oh aye did he set them up to play f****** woefully in the first 45? 😂😂

Only one team tried to play any football tonight. Reading had just the one shot on goal which tells its own story really. I think we need to consider how different that game was to the fixture at the Madjeski. Night and day for me and while we could have been more clinical, the best side won. Reading came to spoil and disrupt and in the past that has worked. Tonight, we stayed calm, played our game not theirs and got our just deserts. There's an air of confidence about this side and I like it. A lot.
COYR

Well, I'm sure reading are furious.
Perhaps they should hire Mark Clattenberg to write an angry letter?

GET IN
My nerves are f***** 

I read all the posts regards people not wanting to go to games , not wanting to renew in this god awful league , under warne , poor football ect ect ect and to a degree I get it but as I’ve said I’m really enjoying my time going to watch derby at present and since the meltdown and rise from the ashes and I can honestly say the excitement/ butterflies I feel for this comming weeks two games and for the run in is right up there with the good times I’ve had watching derby over 55 plus years , I do feel for any fans who have lost that spark in the situation we are in 

We were right in front where the subs warmed up and noticed him at half time, and could see he is quite a character and popular.
The BR PA played dance type music at half time and he did his best to get the subs to groove along to it at the end of their warm up, that was quite funny and showed a certain positivity and team spirit.

We’re still going to badly miss Bird - he’s our best player, and him being out for three weeks could still derail us.
Results have gone our way today but there’s a long way to go. Difficult weeks lie ahead.

Interesting hearing Barkhuizen saying he’s been given a bit of a freer role than he’s normally had in his career, is that…dare I say it…evidence that the coaching staff might be getting something out of him as a player? 

Looking forward to the trip. It was at this match last year that I found myself sitting next to B4 for the first time, although I was too shy to tell him I knew who he was! Ultimately it was because of him that I started posting after years of reading, as I wanted to pay my respects. So here's to B4, thanks for getting me involved, and if you can, three points would go down nicely. 

But at least he’s no longer a very naughty boy!

He does divide opinion somewhat 😂
It's an interesting one as back in his academy days, when it was much easier to catch games live, I watched every game I could and that was a good generation amongst whom, he looked the comfortable standout. He literally scored for fun. He's never looked quick, but he was utterly unerring in front of goal. and we all predicted huge things. Fair to say that things haven't since gone according to plan and he's now struggled to convince a good few coaches that he's worth a regular starting berth, but what I really like about his recent endeavours is that he's now putting in really good shifts wherever he's asked to play. I think he has to start the next game and if he can now add consistency to his goal contributions, he can silence his doubters once and for all. FWIW, I still believe in him and I'd re-sign him in a heartbeat. 

Meant to say also, Ward's brilliant control of the ball when receiving long, high passes was particularly noticeable today. Top notch.

I was impressed by the way we managed to play out of the press today. It allowed us to use our wingbacks properly and not have them crossing from deep but rather getting in behind.
 
That two man midfield of Bird and Adams is going to be something we need to keep. So much mobility in there and both very tidy with the ball. 
 
Impressed with Gayle, Cash and Sibs as well today. Think the standard of the opposition helped but you can only beat what is in front of you. Play like that in the games against Pompey and Bolton and we give ourselves a good chance. 

I was impressed by the way we managed to play out of the press today. It allowed us to use our wingbacks properly and not have them crossing from deep but rather getting in behind.
 
That two man midfield of Bird and Adams is going to be something we need to keep. So much mobility in there and both very tidy with the ball. 
 
Impressed with Gayle, Cash and Sibs as well today. Think the standard of the opposition helped but you can only beat what is in front of you. Play like that in the games against Pompey and Bolton and we give ourselves a good chance. 

For me we normally play to the level of the opposition.   We didn't really play any worse than Barnsley or any better than Shrewsbury or Burton.   Most games that we win or lose the beaten manager could probably claim with some justification it could have been a draw.   We win more than we lose but maybe because we have more individuals that can produce moments of quality. 
Today I don't think anyone could argue we weren't worth the 3 points - it wasn't particularly flowing football but on the balance of chances created/conceded we were a distance ahead. 
 
 

From todays interview;
Nyambe - out for a “period of time” (not specified how long)
Forsyth - joining back in next week
Washington - back on the grass today
Collins - progressing well could be back in 3 weeks
Rooney - back on the grass today! 

Missed Rooney, he was really showing something. Was gutted for him.

Are we ready to put our case to the EFL?