Old One-Eye's Match Report: Austin Brace Puts Brakes On Rams Run!!
Monday, 29th Aug 2011 14:38 by Old One-Eye

The Rams went down fighting after a poor first half against the recently relegated Clarets. 4 from 5 to start the season is a great result for the Rams but this loss was definitely an opportunity lost.

Derby County 1 vs. 2 Burnley

Pride Park Stadium - Derbyshire

3pm - 27th August 2011

Referee:

A. Haines

Attendance:

23,913 (946 dark Satanic mill workers)

Teams:

Derby

Fielding, Brayford, O'Brien, Shackell, Kilbane, Bailey, Hendrick, Bryson, Ward (Croft 46), B. Davies, S. Davies (Robinson 46).

Unused Substitutes: Legzdins, Maguire, Roberts.

Yellow Cards: Ward

Goals: Robinson (71)

The Clarets:

Jensen, Trippier, Mee, Easton, Marney, McCann, Treacy (MacDonald 90), Wallace (Elliott 82), Edgar, Rodriguez, Austin (Amougou 85).

Unused Substitutes: Grant, Hines.

Goals: Austin (49, 74)

Match Stats: Rams - Burnley

Possession: 52% - 48%

Shots On Target: 12 - 12

Shots Off Target: 9 - 10

Corners: 10 - 4

Fouls: 13 - 10

Most Fouls: Robinson (5) - Rodriguez (3)

Old One-Eye’s Match Report:

Before the last season ended, Rams' Chairman Tom Glick in an interview on Radio Derby encouraged fans to invest in the future of the club with confidence, suggesting that those who were not satisfied with the level of investment during the transfer window could return their season tickets and obtain a full refund.

Perhaps it is a little churlish to remind people of what was said back in March, especially when the club had opened their 2011-12 league account with a monotonous ‘WWWW’ record, the best for a century, but as the window is about to slam shut (hopefully on Tyrone Mears’s fingers), the two key areas to fill (a central midfield ‘Governor’ and a target man) are still just that – areas to fill.

Just as a reminder to one and all, Mr Glick said all of the following:

"The top six is the objective. We are going for promotion; we expect to be a top-six side.

“We know we are going to put together a better team, with better players that will require additional investment."

"We are aware of how supporters are feeling. We know people are not as excited as we want them to be."

"They want a better squad, we expect a better squad and we are not satisfied."

"We need better players. That's going to cost money and that money will be spent this summer."

Now contrast those sound-bites with what Nigel Clough said immediately after the game on Saturday, when prompted about the imminent closure of said August transfer window:

“There’s a chance we might be doing some business in the next few days – there may be some ‘ins’ and ‘outs’, but let us concentrate on the ‘outs’ first.”

In other words, we still need to sell before we can buy – or is that too simplistic an interpretation?

Anyway, let’s move on to the match day entertainment.

There was a poor start to proceedings when the groundsman completely mistimed his turning on of the sprinklers for the pre-match pitch-watering, failing to soak a single one of the Derby County ball-boys as they made their way out to the centre circle.

The referee for Saturday’s encounter was Mr Andy Haines, the man who officiated during Derby’s 3-2 defeat at Carrow Road last April as Norwich were powering their way to promotion. When asked how much injury-time would be added that day, he replied “Just long enough for Simeon Jackson to get the winner chaps.”

Burnley kicked off attacking the North Stand, but within seconds Derby moved onto the attack, winning a corner. Ben Davies’s delivery was poor, however, and Jay Rodriguez had no trouble in thumping the ball away.

The game settled into a frenetic end-to-end pattern, but it was Burnley who appeared the more measured when it came to the final ball into the box. As early as the fourth minute, Charlie Austin stung Frank Fielding’s fingers with a fierce drive, and then twice in as many minutes Keith Treacy wasted good opportunities for the visitors by firing high over the bar.

A free kick 35 yards out from goal following a foul by Ben Mee offered Derby an opportunity, but leading goal-scorer Steve Davies’s effort was turned around the post by Brian ‘The Beast’ Jensen. It’s uncertain whether the ball was going in or not, which is quite fitting – Jensen was born in Copenhagen, and it was while working as a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen that Werner Heisenberg postulated his Uncertainty Principle. Who says that match reports can’t be educational?

A glancing header by Austin following excellent work by Ross Wallace cannoned off the foot of the post to safety, and within seconds a swift break by the Rams ended with Craig Bryson firing straight at Jensen.

The almost anonymous Jamie Ward was booked for a foul on the aptly named Kieran Trippier, and just to even things up referee Haines cautioned Ben Mee at the end of a move that saw not one but two Derby players unceremoniously dumped on the turf, with the increasingly inept Haines optimistically waving ‘play on’ before he realised that there was no-one left standing to actually do so.

The chaotic pattern on the field of play continued with Derby enjoying long spells of possession with little end-product. Both Ward and Steve Davies looked a long way short of match sharpness, beaten time and time again to the ball – consequently The Rams resorted to long-range pot-shots at the Burnley goal which caused Jensen few problems.

Mark O’Brien produced a remarkable piece of skill which had Old One-Eye drawing comparisons with the likes of Todd (Colin, not Andy, for goodness sake), Nish, Stimac and West. Under intense pressure he flicked the ball back over his own head, pirouetted around the attacker and waltzed away with the ball – as audacious as it was brilliant.

A brief word on chaos is warranted at this stage. The ‘Butterfly Effect’ was a term coined by American mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz to describe how a small cause in one place can have a massive effect in another. It is designed to explain the chaotic nature of weather – equally it can apply to football in general and Derby County in particular.

Let me explain further. Imagine a butterfly was to flap its wings somewhere in a dark, unimaginably distant and foreign wilderness – say Nottingham. The movement of the molecules of air caused by the movement of said butterfly’s wings could conceivably cause a slight increase or decrease in pressure which could have a cumulative effect as the compressions and rarefactions make their way along Brian Clough Way in the general direction of Derby.

Now consider this - a Championship game is in progress at Pride Park. 100% Derby are playing winless Burnley. Derby’s leading goal scorer is enjoying his longest run in the side ever – four and a half games without any bizarrely typical Steve Davies injury of any kind whatsoever - no fracturing his sock, no terrifying nostril-hair related fall or even an impact injury caused by stubbing his toe on a misplaced Sunday lunchtime Brussels sprout.

Half-time arrives, and a totally unscathed Steve Davies walks off the pitch headed for the dressing-room and a nice cup of tea.

He stops to sign a young fan’s autograph book. A sudden breeze momentarily whistles, carrying with it the sound of a butterfly laughing in a Nottingham accent. A page starts to turn in the wind – Davies catches it with his finger. The resultant paper-cut is so severe that the gaping tear in his skin travels all the way from finger to hand and all the way up his arm. In agony he clutches the flaps of flesh together to prevent his entire skeleton falling out.

Davies, naturally, drops the pen. Equally naturally (for Steve Davies), it impales itself nib-deep in his thigh. He falls to the ground – he is, above all, a footballer – and rolls over not once, not twice but three times. The referee, predictably, books the autograph-hunter. Davies eventually finishes pinned to Steve Bloomer’s bust and Nigel Clough has no choice but to bring on Lee Croft as a second-half substitute. Jamie Ward also makes way for Theo Robinson.

Derby kicked off and Robinson burst through. He delayed his shot and the chance was gone. Jensen held the ball, Theo held his head – within seconds Rams fans did likewise. For once, the precocious talent of O’Brien was replaced by uncertainty – a recurring theme in this report. With a Row ‘Q’ approach called for he dallied, Treacy took the ball to the goal-line and Austin had the luxury of being able to take a touch before blasting the ball past Fielding.

The home side threw themselves forward and following a Ben Davies corner, Lee Croft looked as though he had forced the ball home with his head before Mee cleared. Footage from a fan confirmed that the ball crossed the line.

The linesman, enjoying a fag and a pint over by the corner flag, failed to notice that the ball had not only crossed the goal line but that it had passed into another time zone.

The width of an upright denied Burnley from making the game more or less safe on the hour when, on the break, Treacy slipped the ball past Fielding only for the ball to hit the far post. Hendrick should have done better for The Rams than head straight at Jensen but the pressure was growing.

Croft and John Brayford combined well before Craig Bryson burst to the by-line and drilled an inviting centre low across goal. Robinson, enjoying a fine run of form at the moment, was perfectly placed to turn it home.

Burnley’s lead was restored just three minutes later, and it was an uncustomary Fielding howler which gifted the visitors what would prove to be the winner. Ross Wallace tried a pot-shot from 25 yards and Fielding spilled the ball. It could have gone anywhere but it fell invitingly at the feet of Austin who made no mistake from close range.

The Rams threw the kitchen sink at Burnley in the closing stages, leaving Jason Shackell up front and resorting to an increasingly desperate ‘Route One’ approach. Burnley countered by repeatedly falling over – no doubt tripped up by players, blades of grass, disruptions to the space-time continuum and the occasional butterfly searching for Steve Davies – but no matter how unsavoury the time-wasting tactic, it is the referee’s job to stop it by cautioning the offenders. He didn’t, predictably.

Jensen made excellent saves to deny Bryson and Robinson, but for the home side it was to no avail. In fairness, Burnley deserved to win because they shaded things where it mattered – in the opposition penalty area. The referee finally put us out of our misery after 98 minutes.

Old One-Eye's Man of the Match:

Charlie Austin – the difference between the haves and have-nots.

Old One-Eye’s Player Ratings:

Fielding(6); Brayford(7), Shackell(6), O’Brien(6), Kilbane(5); S Davies(4) (Croft 46, 7), Hendrick(7) Bailey(5), Bryson(6); B Davies(5), Ward(4) (Robinson 46, 7).

Manager’s Reaction:

Nigel Clough was proud of his team and felt they deserved more for their efforts:

"There are ways to lose and today, in the second half, we played exceptionally well. I think that was as well as we have played this season, apart from the second half at Blackpool”.

"We created chances, had a few off the line and I think we deserved something out of the game today. The lads gave it all they had, which is all we can ask from them, and we experienced the fine line between winning and losing.”

"We needed to keep it tight after equalising, but it wasn't to be for us. We needed a break that didn't fall our way today.”

"Both goals we conceded could have been avoided and I think our inexperience showed at times. We hadn't given anything away in any of our first four league games, but today we contributed to the goals we conceded, but we will learn from it."

"We are delighted with 12 points and I don't want today to diminish how great the players been for us. No-one gave us a cat in hells chance of getting 12 points from 15 a few weeks ago, so we're delighted with the return we've got from a very honest bunch of players.”

"We have another two weeks now to prepare for our next game now (because of the international break) but I wish we were playing tomorrow to be honest after losing."

And during the break, Nigel is taking his players to Spain this week for some team bonding:

"The players will be taking in some warm-weather training. Although we haven't got a game for a fortnight we want to keeps the spirits up and have the players staying together as a group.”

"We've all seen how close they in the opening weeks, on and off the pitch, so we want that relationship between the squad to continue to evolve."

Keeper’s Reaction:

He may have cost the Rams a point - with an error that resulted in a goal - but Frank Fielding was still upbeat after the game:

"It's disappointing the run is over, especially at home, I thought we dominated the game and to lose to two defensive mistakes is frustrating. I think we deserved at least a point but we have to take the rough with the smooth and get on with it.”

"It's a cliché but it's a marathon and not a sprint, so we need to make sure we maintain the form we've produced in the first five games. If someone had offered us 12 points from15 I think we'd have snapped their hands off so we have to remember that.”

"Everyone's a bit down because it is our first defeat, but we need to make sure there's still a real buzz about the place. It has been a good start and hopefully the fans won't be too concerned but one loss, because we are certainly aren't."

"I was a bit disappointed with the goal; I should have saved the first shot. It swerved in the air, but I should have dealt with it better and unfortunately it went to their lad and he put it away.”

"These things happen as a goalkeeper and in football, and I have to learn from it if I want to become a better goalkeeper."