Referee:

E. Ilderton

Crowd:

23,078 (660 From Cardiff)

Teams:

Derby:

Fielding, Anderson (Buxton 31), Kilbane, Shackell, Roberts, B Davies, Hendrick, Bryson, Ward, Bennett (Ball 71), Maguire (Cywka 51).

Unused Substitutes: Legzdins, Doyle.

Cardiff:

Marshall (Heaton 46), McNaughton (McPhail 77), Taylor, Kiss, Hudson, Whittingham, Cowie, Miller, Conway (Mason 82), Gunnarsson, Turner.

Unused Substitutes: Gerrard, Earnshaw.

Goals: Kiss (20), Kilbane (OG - 62), Whittingham (73)

Match Stats: Derby - Cardiff

Possession: 45% - 55%

Shots On Target: 4 - 7

Shots Off Target: 7 - 5

Corners: 8 - 6

Fouls: 11 - 6

Most Fouls: B.Davies (3) - Miller (2)

I. Saw’s Match Report - It started with a kiss!

Flip Kiss bypassing Fielding at the near post, frankly avoidable.

Please Sir!

A raised arm, the ball contacts it, no toilet break sought but a Cardiff corner rather than a Rams free kick. Kevin Kilbane wishes he had done a Russell Anderson and departed down the tunnel rather than head into his own net.

More raised hands, no offside, Peter Whittingham clear on goal, a top-drawer finish, Fielding no chance and the Bluebirds fly away from Pride Park with a three goal victory.

It could have been more.

A raggedy rag-tail bunch of white shirts, turned up, stood off and got truly hammered. It was exactly what Derby deserved. Yet the manner we surrendered rankled.

Faced with a five man midfield, every time we had the ball we were closed down immediately, our passing was poor, our options limited and we frequently gave the ball away under pressure.

It was one game too far for our forwards, Chris Maguire guilty of poor decision making and Mason Bennett had the sort of service you expect from motorway cafes.

In midfield Craig Bryson lacked the pace, Jeff Hendrick never found the space and whilst Ben Davies and Jamie Ward promised big time, the end result was a let down.

At the back, Jason Shackell carries on much like Barker did last season, limited movement seemingly playing with a knock, Gareth Roberts and Jake Buxton had good run outs and Kilbane is better on the ball than off it.

Chuck in a few long throw-ins though and the whole thing is a mass panic in the Derby defence.

Factor too, a fantasy referee who bought all the diving by the Welsh men such that they ought to change their name to “Sim City”.

Consider a team who launch long aerial balls to two short arses, then when you bring on a big target man such as Callum Ball, you then play the ball out from the back on the deck.

It beggars belief. So does the half time music.

Derby County pride themselves as a family club and then play “Peaches” by The Stranglers which includes the word clitoris, maybe they can find a rewrite of Rupert Holmes song re-titled the “Penis Colada Song” for the next match.

It might be more entertaining than the football.

It also might detract from all the free tickets and lack of signings that are “Team Glick”.

GO, GO, USA, Rah, Rah, Bloody Rah!!

Manager’s Reaction:

Nigel Clough was positive his team will bounce back from the heavy defeat:

"That was the first time at Pride Park this season we can say 'that wasn't us' in the league. We weren't on the front foot as we have been and nor did we get at them like we have done in previous games.”

"The injuries we've got caught up with us and when you compare the two teams they had an international striker up front and we had a 15-year-old who has double science on Thursday morning at school.”

"Mason battled away all night. He won an awful lot of headers in the first half and it was another good experience for him in the early stages of his career. The players kept going despite not playing particularly well, which I think was down to Cardiff who stopped us from playing more than anything else.”

"We have to take it on the chin and bounce back on Saturday. We certainly won't be getting down about one defeat. We hope to have a few players back from injury for the Hull game, that is for sure."

"The break is coming at the right time for us to get some of those players back to fitness. Every injury is just about a different one as well from the double figures we've got but until the point the lads are back, we will keep battling away.”

"If we need to we will dip into the under-18s squad again because we have some very good sixteen year olds in Academy."

Next Match:

Peterborough United vs. Derby County

3pm - Saturday November 5th

Photo: Action Images