Wistaston Ram

I went
same day as Valley Parade Fire ?

I still have an issue with my big toe due to that.
They wouldn't delay the start with only a couple of turnstiles and over a 1000 Rams still outside as KO approached, so when we got in,we kicked the back of the stand out to let the rest in....
End of the game was interesting with the temporary chicken wire fencing and crowd barriers being dismantled as we cleared the grd out...

I wasn't going to say anything about the match as I am so late to the witch-hunt, having not had much of a phone signal in my little Devon hideaway. 
But I do think there's been some unnecessary hysteria on here over this result, mostly from people who only viewed it on TV and are therefore heavily influenced by the one-eyed narrative on ITV.
Due to the heavy rain the day before and that morning, the pitch was in a shocking state, the players warmed up in the corner in front of us and were slipping all over the place. It churned up the very corner of the pitch where Mendez-Laing makes his runs. His first run after kick-off you could hear the squish squelch with every step. I'm surprised he kept his boots on! 
The wind was swirling on and off as the showers rolled in, it was so difficult to predict, which is why Wildsmith wasn't making the halfway line with one kick to be promptly followed by a hoof into touch. He was also being abused by two of our own brain-dead fans.
People said Collins wasn't doing his job  of holding the ball, but he was being bear-hugged by their centre half all game. Likewise Dobbin and Osula, who nearly lost his shirt to a player on one occasion with no foul given. Funny how the ref missed all those but managed to 'see' Cashin's tug from fully thirty yards away and not even realising which player had committed the offence. 
I thought the Torquay crowd were fantastic, noisy and belligerent,  they definitely influenced the referee to give everything their way. 
Yet despite all that, I thought we'd been clinical enough to win the game until Cashin's unfortunate lapse of judgement. For those laying into him and suddenly calling him out as a bad player, he is in the League One team of the season, has barely put a foot wrong and has shown a responsibility for results that many senior players could learn from. There'll be no-one feeling worse about what he did than Cash himself.
The weather was at its worst after the sending off. The rain and wind were relentless, Warne took off our strongest player (no doubt thinking of tomorrow night) and didn't immediately strengthen our defensive midfield. I'm not sure it would have mattered anyway with the aerial onslaught that followed. When he did decide to act he brought on ball playing Hourihane and ratter Tommo over the head it and kick it style of Rooney - not his most astute substitutions, imo.
Even then we looked like we'd held on for the win until right at the death when the ref miraculously found that extra few seconds to allow them to create one last chance for their fairytale draw. Not good for a beleaguered Derby County squad but another win for the TV narrative. 
I thought our lads on that pitch were warriors on Sunday, and applauded every last one of them off the pitch. The invasion just before the finish was scary and the Torquay fan who squared up to Roberts right in front of us wants banning for life. Instead the BBC were putting out tweets celebrating the magic of the cup sparking pitch invasions with laughing emojis.
There is some bloody hypocrisy in football and I don't have to buy into it. You can choose for yourselves.

Wow a 22 slide Powerpoint presentation!  Think it could be quite chaotic outside the away end, so I'll be getting there nice and early.

I remember the end of season game the previous season which I think we won 3.1.  Our fans basically dismantled the stand, kicking in the corrugated sheeting. 

Are you expecting a draw? There's optimism and then there's..... COYR ?

New Year’s Day game at Somerton Park absolute farce , standing water all over the pitch. Bobby D got injured and they got a pen when George Williams slid in for a tackle , went past the player he was tackling and bumped into another player. Abandoned at HT but should never have started 

Its nice that you can afford it, a lot of people cant.

Like many, I could not justify the time and cost in going to what was affect 'on a hiding to nothing' type of game. I'm also sure the farcical ticketing arrangements didn't help. It's a shame, but I cannot take the FA Cup very seriously these days unlike in the 80's when I didn't miss any of our epic cup runs including Plymouth away.
Still, I will be at the next three away games and with a car off the road, just hoping public transport does not let me down!

Like many, I could not justify the time and cost in going to what was affect 'on a hiding to nothing' type of game. I'm also sure the farcical ticketing arrangements didn't help. It's a shame, but I cannot take the FA Cup very seriously these days unlike in the 80's when I didn't miss any of our epic cup runs including Plymouth away.
Still, I will be at the next three away games and with a car off the road, just hoping public transport does not let me down!

Just got back from the match, typical cup game, and i enjoyed the experience, sat next to B4 and his dad (really nice people) was a pleasure, found B4 very vocal, especially when a Derby fan sat behind wouldn't stop moaning, lol. 
We have to realise at the moment, that the majority of our team are players released from their clubs, we will not be world beaters, we are at the beginning of a long journey, But, at least we still have a club 

I don’t think it’s the result that’s upsetting us. It was the very poor (even allowing for being down to 10 men) second half performance.
Torquay certainly deserved at least a reply but I’m not sure it will be that big a payday for them once you’ve deducted the costs of staging the game. I doubt very much it will be anywhere near a big crown and I would expect ticket prices to be low. I wouldn’t be too sure about them getting a battering either.

I guess ITV are paying them for the privilege. Can't blame Torquay to make as much as they can out of the day. Though I also don't like it.

Blimey our fans look a bit glum on the screen. 
Something pissed on all the chips or summat? ?

Had a good chat with one of the back room staff, basically said it’s the same squad and try to win it in the first hour and then take players off. He said they haven’t got 9 subs. Praying that there’s no replay.  Spoke briefly to Warne, he said if I can play centre half I’m in with a chance.                                  Then as I was typing this  Cash came and had a chat, his family live near us. Right back to the bar.

I think the sea is out there somewhere. In foggy Babbacombe! 
 

Inverurie ram spotted at today's game

Had written off the Bolton game as I am abroad with family, but I am landing at 12.55 at Manchester airport on 27th, so could now just about make it. Very tempting, but not sure the good lady would approve!

Got my tickets!
My fiancée’s first away day, first FA Cup tie, and first time on a terrace.
Here’s hoping for some of that cup magic! A 3-2 comeback win or a 5-0 win, please.
To us, obviously.
?

Summary
Thanks to you for your Player Ratings for the Rovers game last Saturday; 34 of you took the time and the trouble to provide your figures & I salute you for it. 34 is the highest number of raters thus far. It was a very memorable game for the first-half hatrick and a blistering display of full-bloodied attacking play by David McGoldrick.  The highest compliment I can think of is to say it was Hector-esque; those of us who had the privilege of seeing Kevin Hector play on the mud will also see the similarities - great mobility, superb speed of thought and instinctive finishing. It really was that good. It is no surprise then to see that McGoldrick topped the average rating by a country mile with a score of 9.37. 8 raters gave him a perfect score of 10, and his lowest rating was 9.00. 
The average aggregate rating was 87.4 - the highest of the season thus far. Mendez-Laing was 2nd highest with 8.20 - our most consistently highest rated player of the season so far. Collins chipped in with an impressive score of 8.14 as for once the front line outscored midfield and defense. It was all about that intensity of play from the start which blew an on-form Rovers side away.   Average player rating was 7.08 (mode 7.0). 6 players scored above this average and 8 players below. The red dotted line on the graph shows the cut-off. 
Thanks again for your time and effort and your comments in the ratings which I really enjoy reading. It always makes me realize just how very knowledgeable Derby County fans are. We are gathering a big database of scores through this process and I will start to provide some additional kinds of analysis at the season's mid-point.

The great Alan Hinton

Upper 27 and 28 now open.

The great Alan Hinton

Ah yes... can definitely see the similarities with Pride Park! ?

Tonight's view