Donkey Derby

Stevenage tried to turn it into many 5 a side games. They crowded the ball quickly with multiple players and kept it boxed in and frantic. You can see how that works for them, especially when they're a short team with no real players above 6ft. Unfortunately for us, that meant the space first half was at full back, and neither Nyambe or Elder are adept with the ball at their feet to use that space.
We looked a little lost at times with what we were trying to do, in particular, Kane Wilson was struggling. He tried hard, just didn't really look like he had a clue what he was doing. The press was so frenetic it saw both teams seeing shadows at times and just ended up with getting rid of the ball thinking a challenge was coming, even if there was actually some time. 
It took Korey Smith to come on, which enabled us to get a better player on the ball in Kane Wilson going into the space at full back and Korey himself having the experience to realise when there was actually time to use for us to really get going in any sense of the word. 
Tough, attritional game which I think we did enough to win. I don't think Collins would have changed things first half, to be honest. I'm glad Hourihane didn't play, as I think he would've collapsed under that quick press in the first half. I think it played out how most thought, we were never going to stroll out and beat these, and it was nice to match them physically. 

Depending on which hat you wear there's several ways of looking at it.

1st half. From one point of view it was a borefest of a game played in midfield with little happening in the goalmouth. There were 2 real chances, both to them. One saved well by JW and the other cleared off the line by Sonny Bradley who finally seems to have settled in and is showing exactly why we got him in. I don't remember us having a shot, on or off target. There were also some "pretty" passages of play which, unfortunately, led nowhere. For the neutral or the open minded there was plenty to see. A half of many faces. The South Stand started well but after 10 minutes or so, apart from the berating of Steve Evans, they and the rest of the crowd were pretty bland.

2md half saw the South Stand wake up and their infectiousness got to much of the ground ending in a lot of bouncing after the goal. The crowd's awakening seemed to light the players' blue touch paper and we were on top. A really enjoyable half that started to look like it would fade into a 0-0 draw... cue Sibs, the impact sub. Cracking ball for Smith to NML. Reports I've read go on to say NML crossed to Sibs.. I don't see it that way. They weren't all that far apart and I maintain that NML passed to Sibs who hit it first time into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Cue unbridled joy both on and off the pitch (unbridled joy if you're not Stevenage, their players were stunned, fans too, Steve Evans just got mardy as did others in his staff, one of whom got a yellow for his efforts). Worth the win, IMO.

Steve Evans? Will he ever answer the question posed by the South Stand? Has he ever seen it? Post match he claimed they should have had a penalty for a hand ball in the lead up to Bradley's goal line block. I won't comment on that as I didn't see it, if it happened. What Evans did miss was the 2 occasions in the first half when Derby players were thrown to the ground in the Stevenage penalty area. I've not yet seen the 2nd half charge on Barks back yet but it looked like a red from my vantage point on the front row some 10 yards North of the halfway line.

The ref? I have to say I found him even handed. Both sets of players were guilty of holding opponents and the ref ignored 90% of it. Eventually their keeper got yellowed for time wasting, far too late, IMO. Players of both sides went down unnecessarily, IMO, theirs more so than ours. The number of poor tackles he let go could have had a lasting effect, fortunately, it seems we have no new injuries from the clattering the lads got at times. One example is Sibs, about 30 seconds after coming on he gets clobbered. He just got up and got on with the game. A year ago he'd have exacted revenge... grown up a bit?

Basically, depending on your hat, it was a borefest, it was interesting, it was enjoyable. I left feeling that my various hats of former player, coach, referee and fan, had had enough to make it a good day out... and we won. Next up for me is the Reading and Bolton double header in mid March.

Leonard has had 3 goals and two assists in @830 mins of football this season and at Championship level too. That's a goal contribution every 170 minutes or so which ain't shabby, though I concede I know nothing of him first hand.
Promising as Dajaune is, he's only started one game for Gateshead as yet. He deserves a chance to acclimatise to men's football in a slightly less pressure-cooker-type environment than he'd experience in our men's team right now. Also, Collo was not injured at the time and would have been the starting at 9 more games than not.

Just because Gregory and Smith were the only names that got into the press does not mean they were the our only to targets.
Who knew about Leonard until it was confirmed over weekend . Same applies to CBT last summer, or signing of TJJ or Ward
Fact is we run a tight ship regards transfers so have no idea who we are interested 
Add in fact that still working with EFL restrictions with very limited transfer pots would suggest Warne (and club)  ain't doing as bad as suggested

On the last line, true - but McGoldrick has nothing to do with how well the players I mentioned are doing this year.
On the rest - thanks to @Rich84 for taking that one on.
For the sake of my mental health, I give up. I don't mind Warne not being everyone's cup of tea (the David Brent comparisons always tickle me), but to not even acknowledge that he's doing something right - and he must be doing something right, we're 2nd for crying out loud - is just silly.

Just because Gregory and Smith were the only names that got into the press does not mean they were the our only to targets.
Who knew about Leonard until it was confirmed over weekend . Same applies to CBT last summer, or signing of TJJ or Ward
Fact is we run a tight ship regards transfers so have no idea who we are interested 
Add in fact that still working with EFL restrictions with very limited transfer pots would suggest Warne (and club)  ain't doing as bad as suggested

Just because Gregory and Smith were the only names that got into the press does not mean they were the our only to targets.
Who knew about Leonard until it was confirmed over weekend . Same applies to CBT last summer, or signing of TJJ or Ward
Fact is we run a tight ship regards transfers so have no idea who we are interested 
Add in fact that still working with EFL restrictions with very limited transfer pots would suggest Warne (and club)  ain't doing as bad as suggested

Just because Gregory and Smith were the only names that got into the press does not mean they were the our only to targets.
Who knew about Leonard until it was confirmed over weekend . Same applies to CBT last summer, or signing of TJJ or Ward
Fact is we run a tight ship regards transfers so have no idea who we are interested 
Add in fact that still working with EFL restrictions with very limited transfer pots would suggest Warne (and club)  ain't doing as bad as suggested

Some of the reactions on here and twitter last night were beyond a joke to be honest.
"No prem club is going to trust Warne with their young players"
"Max Bird probably left because he cant stand Warnes football"
"Warne can't attract players, the club are lying to us"
"Warne hasn't got the contacts"
"The club said we had money, a good budget, this is a lie"
Amongst other things.
Yet if you take time to wait to hear the reasons and let the club have their say. We were two young strikers first choices, but unfortunately the clubs in question could not get cover and therefore wouldn't let them go. But apparently we have a manager who cant attract these young players because no premier league manager would trust Warne. 
Max Bird was leaving anyway. It really sounds like even if we had got promoted this season, he would have gone. He has been here for a long time. He wants a fresh challenge. Simple as that. No ulterior motives, no hate of the manager, he just wants a fresh challenge.
A deal agreed with a striker, all pretty much done, till at 8pm the gaffer of the club in question pulls the plug. What can we do about that?
We knew of every striker available, we left no stone unturned. But we just couldn't get one done. Despite trying our best and essentially having one agreed until the plug gets pulled at the 11th hour.
We clearly had a but of money left to bring one in, but through no fault of the manager or the club, it has not happened.
Yet yesterday the club, the manager got dogs abuse for failing to get a striker in.
Washington and Waghorn will be back in 3 weeks. You have Barkhuizen that can play through the middle, NML if needed. In the next 5 games we have one midweek game, so the others are all a full week apart. Plenty of times for Collins to recover.
We have ended the window with a better midfield than when we started & wingers that would be the envy of most clubs in this league.
Lets get behind them now and stop looking to pin blame and point the finger at.
UTR

Best midfielder at the club. Leaving as won't sign a new contract. Good fee. Keep the player for the rest of the season.
He came through the ranks, stood by us when we were on our arse, does his best, good egg arond the place, getting a bigger wage in a higher division, club doesn't lose out.
Max Bird comes out well, Derby County come out well. 
Moaners, please shush. I'm embarrassed by you.

This is one of the reasons Wildsmith is so important and I love him for it. He is not embarrassed to take the heat out of the game and stifle our opponent's momentum this way. Even in front of the baying cop at Anfield. It might make the difference between promotion or not come the end of the season. I do not want Derby to be the Corinthian Casuals of League One, glorious failures, playing honorably while the teams around us scheme to earn promotion at our expense.

Possibly the most sensible post of the night- some posters on here are as poor as our defending was a couple of times tonight.

Quite clearly b*******, but shouldn't be used as a stick to beat Washington with who has done ok for us on the whole. 

Would imagine Sibley is ok with Warne as he gets more game time than previous managers he played under.
Also looks like Sibley listens to Warne as it's under his coaching that Sibley finally cut out all the stupid bookings, which made him a liability to other managers
 
 
 

Would imagine Sibley is ok with Warne as he gets more game time than previous managers he played under.
Also looks like Sibley listens to Warne as it's under his coaching that Sibley finally cut out all the stupid bookings, which made him a liability to other managers
 
 
 

Would imagine Sibley is ok with Warne as he gets more game time than previous managers he played under.
Also looks like Sibley listens to Warne as it's under his coaching that Sibley finally cut out all the stupid bookings, which made him a liability to other managers
 
 
 

You missed out all the stick the haters were giving him for wearing a bobble hat, then the haters gave him stick for wearing a hoodie, they haven’t managed to give him stick yet for wearing a ruck sack at yesterday’s post match interview, but they are far too busy giving him stick for his jokes/comments when answering media questions about winning a game of football 0-3 away from home, in London a place we have struggled to win a game in ages…………..😂😂😂😂
what next? give him some stick for not appearing with a stick at the post match interviews 😂😂😂😂
 

Would imagine Sibley is ok with Warne as he gets more game time than previous managers he played under.
Also looks like Sibley listens to Warne as it's under his coaching that Sibley finally cut out all the stupid bookings, which made him a liability to other managers
 
 
 

Would imagine Sibley is ok with Warne as he gets more game time than previous managers he played under.
Also looks like Sibley listens to Warne as it's under his coaching that Sibley finally cut out all the stupid bookings, which made him a liability to other managers
 
 
 

Would imagine Sibley is ok with Warne as he gets more game time than previous managers he played under.
Also looks like Sibley listens to Warne as it's under his coaching that Sibley finally cut out all the stupid bookings, which made him a liability to other managers
 
 
 

Bored shitless of reading criticisms of Collins. Bloke puts absolutely everything into every game and he’s top goalscorer for the 5th best side in the division over the last 19 games so he obviously knows where the net is. 
 
Because he doesn’t have the technical ability of McG or Martin his efforts seem somewhat less impressive. 
 
Im telling you now McG missed plenty of chances last season - some a lot easier than those Collins missed yesterday. This isn’t a criticism of McG either - just an acknowledgment that our best player last year was also only human and plying his trade in league 1 for a reason. Same as Collins.

Having watched the extended highlights back, a few comments to stir the pot.
Those saying Sibley could/should have laid in Max Bird instead of shooting (and Paul Warne said so in his post match interview), I disagree. When Sibley gets the ball, Bird slows down and doesn’t bomb forward- or turn his head/scan to see their left back moving over fast to cover. A sign to me that Bird isn’t a natural 10. If Sibley releases to Bird there, a goal is very unlikely so I think it’s the right decision. Can’t we just give Sibley credit for a well taken goal?
It’s a red card. 3:55 of the RamsTV highlights. You only get a 4 second snippet of the act, so eyes peeled, but the defender does sneak an elbow and (unbelievably) catches Collins flush, despite not being able to see exactly where JC was behind him. 
Those questioning the triple change: personnel wise it seemed like for like rather than defensively minded, with Nelson at full back to replace Ward. At 2-0 they have to press forward, so I am guessing the tactic was to soak that up and counter, with fresh pace of TJJ and Barkz, and NML too. It worked! Almost worked twice (how funny was it to see Bradley among the charge in that final chance?! He looked like he just joined in a run with the lads, no idea where he was going 😂 ). Sometimes inviting pressure late in games backfires, and it can make the fans nervous, but with a two goal cushion you can afford one slip up and it creates chances to kill the game on the break.
James Collins was inches away from two goals today, but fine margins make all the difference- both to the result, and people’s perception of him on this forum. I saw a post from Derby Retweets that said, across English domestic competition, only three players have scored more goals than James Collins since he started his career in 2009/10. Thats Harry Kane (251), Jordan Rhodes (226) and Sergio Aguero (217) all better than JC’s 202. Billy Sharp with 190 and Charlie Austin with 188, for reference. Not bad company… and proof that he DOES score goals. As well as work hard, gets in good positions (mostly) and- crucially- he stays fit. With Wash, Wags And TJJ all either recently or currently injured, I think people simply don’t give JC enough credit. I’m not saying he’s a world beater, and he does miss chances- but he brings a lot to this team in League One.
As soon as the third went in, Warne should have pulled NML for Brown. That’s a very small criticism for Warne after a great run of results, some sound team selections in the face of injury troubles, some slightly better subs, and better tactical play. This is where our squad depth is starting to show and will hopefully separate us from the pack as injuries and suspensions thicken over the busy Christmas period.
I didn’t know B4 personally, but after 5 league wins on the spin I can’t help but think about what he’d be posting on here today. We should enjoy this while it’s good. And hope it stays good.

As someone who took on a fair amount of criticism for arguing we weren't playing that badly a few weeks ago...I thought we were pretty poor first half tbh.
We constantly gave the ball away and were probably the scrappier of the two teams.
One moment of magic out of nowhere gave us the lead. Orient missed a couple of good chances and so did Collins. 
So imo we were fairly fortunate to be in the lead. A stupid red card really put them in the cart and a sweeping move a minute into the 2nd half suddenly gave us a comfortable situation.
I didn't think we shut them out as well as we could and they alnost got back into it.  They eventually tired and over committed and we then could have scored 4 or 5.
So a strange game really. We could have won even more easily but at times we played quite averagely and all the big moments went our way.
Just as a few weeks ago I was saying we weren't that bad, I'm saying yesterday we weren't that amazing. Little moments are going our way more and we are moving into a great position with more in the tank. 
We can play much better than yesterday - and probably will do and not win, that's football. 

All sounded good for to me. 5 in a row, in the playoffs comfortably, good goal difference, game in hand over some. Keep up the good work
i’ll now leave the thread so we can discuss: 
1) See, I told you Sibs is a 10
2) Collins missed again, while it’s had luck on JJ for scuffing one
3) Bradley is a liability 
4) Warne won’t be able to prosper in the Championship 
5) It was only Orient 
6) Cashin wants to stay
🤣🤣🤣

Fans who care a deal more about being right than they do their club winning. I didn't want Warne but I'm so feckin sick of the carping from certain 'supporters' on here I hope he sees out his contract now just to wind them up.