Rams Need To Remove Pride Park Monkey!
Friday, 11th Mar 2011 12:21 by Stuart Hughes

Derby County will again attempt to get the home monkey off their back when they entertain Swansea City at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday.

Earlier in the season the two sides played out a goalless draw at the Liberty Stadium and Rams manager Nigel Clough and his coaching staff would probably settle for another stalemate against high flying Swansea City.

After all, they were more than happy with the goalless draw against Barnsley last time out at Pride Park.

Since then, Derby County visited the Riverside Stadium and returned pointless after a 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough. Despite taking the lead on 32 minutes, goals in the 73rd and 88th minutes condemned the Rams to yet another defeat in this sorry season.

With 10 games remaining Derby County lie 19th in the npower Championship with 40 points from 36 games. Middlesbrough have the same number of points from a game less. Crystal Palace have 38 points from 36 and the bottom three are Scunthorpe United 34 from 35, Sheffield United 32 from 36, and Preston North End with 25 from 35. It does not make good reading.

Swansea City, on the other hand, are 2nd in the league table with 63 points from 36 games, ahead of Norwich City on goal difference. The Swans will be looking to capitalise on the Rams poor form and consolidate their position in the automatic promotion places.

No doubt former Derby County loanee Luke Moore will be eager to add to his tally of six goals this season (four of them for the Rams).

Derby County are struggling for goals having scored just five goals in the last ten league games. Earlier in the season the Rams loaned Shefki Kuqi from Swansea City.

I was going to point out the difference that Rams fans raved about Kuqi, a striker who couldn’t get into the Swans squad and was released by them in January, and wanted Nigel Clough to sign Kuqi, but a look at the statistics shows that Swansea City have scored 49 goals this season, only five more than Derby County.

The big difference between the two teams is in goals conceded – the Swans have let in 32 goals this season, the Rams 50.

Despite Swansea City’s lofty league position, the Swans are not prolific goal scorers. If Derby County can keep things tight, avoid costly individual errors at the back, and defend sensibly then the Rams have a chance to get something out of this game.

A draw would be good, a win would be even better.

Stuart Hughes is a local writer and Derby County fan.

You can read more of his written work on his website

www.stuarthughes.webs.com

Photo: Action Images

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