I know nothing

10 Past 8 in the morning, I'm travelling down!

Got my ticket for Carlisle game this morning - said weeks ago that it was fate that we would go up  against Carlisle in the last game. Was at the Baseball Ground when we played them in  final match and were presented with the trophy as League Champions 50 years ago.

I was thinking about this earlier.  With no midweek games I’d like to think we can get pretty close to a sellout.  The Blackpool game might be tricky as it’s Good Friday and quite a few might be away on holiday.  It would be great if we can get 29k - 30k for the 3.
It was spine tingling yesterday, a brilliant atmosphere throughout. Let’s make every game now a “Black n White” game.  The crowd can be so important in helping us win these last 3 home games that might make the difference between autos and play-offs 🐏.

Eh we’re doing alright I guess 

Well,, just sitting in the garden having a smoke and a coffee ,early start today because of the m25 chaos and I don’t want to be late or rushed as today is a day to drink it all in , the nerves are bubbling up as they have been from Tuesday night , I could say I just want a good day , a good atmosphere, a good performance, a good match ,,,,,,,,, naw ,,,,,,, I just want a ducking win ,the rest is a bonus 
come on derby, get into them 💪💪💪💪🐏

It's nearly time, lets get PP bouncing tomorrow, lets play with power, pace and passion, if us fans do our bit I can see us winning this 2 or 3 nil, if we play to our strengths I think we have to much for them, I for one can not wait for 3 o'clock to arrive. Once A Ram Always A Ram. 

Same team, let's come out quickly from the start. This is the kind of game that is usually extremely tentative with neither side wanting to lose, but I hope Warne emphasises aggression in attack from the start to seize the momentum and get the crowd going. We're coming into this in great form, let's not worry about Bolton. If we play as well as we have been, we can win this. 

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.

Unchanged team for me please , strong bench to change things up if needed or fresh legs if all going well, 
this is the love hate aspect of being a football fan , I love we are right in the thick of it and the games are SO important ( this one especially) but there’s a part of me that hates it too 😂, checking the table over and over again , working out different scenarios, excited as duck but bricking it too,
we are due some real good stuff from the football gods , we have endured and keep turning up in our thousands , I want to be in pp celebrating promotion on the last day so so much 🐏💪

With no disrespect to the team or fans - f*** Bolton. f*** the idea that we should be worrying so much about this match. Over 38 games they’ve not been as good as us. We have finally stumbled onto a system that is producing decent performances, Why should we change how we’ve taken to the last 3 matches? 
 
Go out and show them why we’ve got the best goal difference in the division. Go and attack them from the off. My heart not take watching us trying to soak up 90 minutes of pressure for Wildsmith to sprint out and foul their striker in the 86th minute for a pen. 

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. 

But apart from all that?

It’s about time we had a decent ref. Got all the big decisions in our favour. It’s about time someone sees the game the way I see it. Good on you ref.

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?

Scruffy win in the end with a helping hand from a ref that owed us one. We don't need to win in style every week at this crucial stage of the season. We'll take that and hopefully we've saved our best for Saturday. 

What a signing he’s been from a player nobody wanted 

It’s not random, we have a Muslim player who will have been fasting since daybreak this morning and is now able to break his fast.

Feeling strangely positive about tonight!
Something tells me Gayle will run riot and CBT will finally arrive!
🤞

This game is very important , lose it and it puts a lot more pressure onto Saturdays game , win it and go for it keeping momentum and carry that into Saturday  and then if we beat Bolton  a potential cushion is created with then only 7 games to go  
was great to hear Barks saying that we went for it against Rovers and I think that mentality is exactly how we should be going into every game now until the seasons end .....then second or even first place is a real possibility 

Was there yesterday, best away performance of the season imo, so proud of the lads , the togetherness in the team is second to none , the manager has done an unbelievable job , really happy for him, 2 massive home games this week so give all the support you can and keep the faith because I firmly believe The Rams are on the way back

Agree
but theres a small minority that seem to take more pleasure from here when we lose than win.. so thats for them
they know who they are

We need to win so @Rampant can stay on thread for the next fixture.

Bristol Rovers vs Derby County
Saturday 9th March KO 3pm
Memorial Stadium (BS7 0BF)
 
Opponents Form: Decent recently with three wins in their last four matches including their last two. They currently sit 11th in the table albeit with no realistic playoff aspirations or relegation concerns. Whilst their home record in L1 this season is a reasonable W7-D5-L5 it should be noted that they have lost four of their most recent six matches on their own patch with wins over Carlisle (2-1) and Oxford (3-1) dampened by defeats to Blackpool (1-2), Exeter (0-1), Fleetwood (0-2) and Burton (1-2).
Opponents Bio: Rovers are managed by Matt Taylor who is in his third managerial role. After an impressive four years at Exeter he was the man chosen by Rotherham to take over the reins after the departure of our own Paul Warne to Pride Park. Taylor's spell there lasted 13 months before he parted company with the Yorkshire club in November 2023 as the Millers were struggling in 22nd place. Within three weeks, however, he found himself in the Bristol Rovers hotseat replacing the ever-delightful Joseph Barton. 
The club have played their home matches at the 11,000 capacity (3,000 seated) Memorial Stadium since 1996 after leaving their previous home in Eastville. They are officially known as the 'Pirates', reflecting Bristol's maritime history. Or because they just arrrr. Or maybe because their form is historically patchy. They are of course also known as the 'Gas', a nickname which was given them by opposition fans originally but was cheerfully adopted by the Rovers' followers who refer to themselves as 'Gasheads'. The name came about apparently due to their former stadium being sited next to a gasworks which produced a distinct aroma which would waft over the ground. Anybody who sits near a few of our more dedicated drinkers at Pride Park will no doubt relate to that.
Opponents Player Watch: Only one place to start here as the Rams go up against our former beau, Christopher Hugh Martin. The Wardrobe has scored 15 goals this season and is joint fifth in the top scorers chart for the division. Second top scorer after CM9 is Anthony Evans with half a dozen goals. Other notable players are ex-Rams youngster Luke Thomas, experienced former Swansea, Celtic and Preston man Scott Sinclair and Chelsea loanee Harvey Vale who I think we were linked with during the summer. I'm not sure if he's their number one or not but they also have a goalkeeper called Jed Ward who you can only sympathise with.
Rams Record vs Opponents: There have been three FA Cup ties between the two clubs but we'll focus on the 27 league matches there have been between Bristol Rovers and Derby County. The first meeting was on 29th August 1953 at Bristol so hats off to any Ram or Rover who remembers that match over 70 years ago. During the early years of the fixture it was Bristol Rovers who held sway with the Pirates winning the first three encounters, four of the first five and six of the first nine overall. Since then though it is the Rams who have had much the better of it. The overall league record for Derby against Saturday's opponents is as follows:
P27: W12-D7-L8
Away at Bristol Rovers our record  is: P13: W3-D4-L6   Whilst that isn't impressive it should be pointed out that we lost on our first five visits and since then we've gone W3-D3-L1 on their turf and are unbeaten in our last four visits.
Since our relegation to L1 for the 2022/23 season the Rams have recorded home wins against Rovers in both fixtures at Pride Park (4-2 and 2-1) whilst last season we conceded a debateable late penalty in a 1-1 draw at their place.
Other Saturday Fixtures Of Note: We will either be second or third going into the match depending on the outcome of Barnsley vs Bolton on Tuesday night. Peterborough are at home to Northampton on the same evening. On Saturday our priority is of course to earn three points in the south-west but we will be hoping for favourable results in at least one of the following games:
Blackpool vs Portsmouth
Exeter vs Bolton
Barnsley vs Lincoln
Burton vs Peterborough
Expected Team: My guess is that Derby will be unchanged from the 3-0 win against a desperately struggling Port Vale. With fit full-back options rarer than a salad in the City Ground boardroom I suspect it'll be a back three plus the two wing-backs who played well yesterday. 
 
Safe journey to those who make the trip and COYR.

“Black players in the defensive line often make these mistakes because they’re not concentrated,” said Eranio. “They are powerful physically, but when it is time to think … they often make this type of error.”

Wow. Textbook crazy racist stereotyping. From a guy who played with Marcel Desailly.

Derby legend, but seeing as he's been a coach at Milan for 20 years and he's currently 57, it would be an odd one for him to suddenly move back to England to become a manager.