D.J's Match Preview - Derby vs. Peterborough
Friday, 4th Nov 2011 14:08 by Daniel J Sewart

Will the real Derby County please stand up! The Rams head to Peterborough with fans hoping we see more of the form that dominated Pompey rather than a repeat of the Cardiff debacle of mid-week.

Peterborough vs. Derby

London Road Stadium

3pm – Saturday November 5th

Current Form – Last 5 League Matches:

Peterborough: 14th – W, W, L, L, L

Derby: 7th – D, D, L, W, L

Peterborough:

Although he signed a new contract for the club during the week, Lee Frecklington will not face the Rams after being sent off after receiving two yellow cards against Southampton on Tuesday night. Striker Lee Tomlin will also miss due to suspension.

Beside suspension, injury is also a problem as defenders Craig Alcock and Scott Wootton and midfielder Joe Newell are unavailable.

The Rams may not be the only team with a 15-year-old striker in their squad as Darren Ferguson may also include Jannai Gordon Hutton.

Josh Thompson, Daniel Kearns, David Ball and Emile Sinclair are also possibilities to return to the first team.

Darren Ferguson expects Nigel Clough’s Rams to have something to prove at Peterborough:

'Derby has been ravaged by injuries to be fair, they have a lot of players out, but so do we. They are a young side and Nigel Clough has done a very good job at Pride Park”

'Nigel has had to trim the wage bill and has a lot of young players in their squad, which is similar to ourselves. I watched them in mid-week and Cardiff played very well on the night. It will certainly be an attractive game on the eye because both sides like to play football on the floor.”

Derby

Russell Anderson was forced from the pitch with injury during the first half with a hamstring injury and is unlikely to make this trip.

Jason Shackell is carrying a hip problem but will soldier on with the international break just around the corner.

Jake Buxton could be called up again to fill one of the spots in the back four especially if Mark O'Brien has not recovered from his shoulder injury.

Striker Theo Robinson is a slight chance to return from injury but like O’Brien, Clough is unlikely to risk players with the international break so close.

That break will hopefully help players return to the fray with Anderson, Barker, Riggott, O'Brien, Brayford, Bailey, Green and S.Davies (fractured skull), Tyson and Robinson all on the treatment table.

Kevin Kilbane is sure that the Rams can bounce back after their mid-week disappointment:

"We have to look to the next game rather than back at what went wrong on Wednesday. To concede three at home was disappointing but the Peterborough game gives us a chance to respond.”

"We've played well in the majority of our matches this season and we need to take that form to London Road, which we are more than capable of doing. We're confident we can go there, put a performance on and get back on track."

"There were no excuses from our point of view, we just weren't good enough. We've not had too many performances like that this season and I think Wednesday was our worst performance of the season."

"Cardiff stopped us playing early on but we we're going to have to handle that when teams come to Pride Park now".

"Injuries are playing a part but we can't use that as an excuse and we have to re-group and respond together as a team."

DanJ’s Match Preview:

Derby looked like a shadow of their former selves from just days earlier against Cardiff and it is hard to know which Rams will turn up on the trip to Peterborough in both form and personnel.

With injuries mounting at an alarming rate Nigel will be hoping to get something from the final away fixture before international break. That break may well give troops such as Brayford, Tyson, Robinson and countless others, time to shake off injury problems.

The apathy GSE seem to have of freeing up wages for Nigel to strengthen and attempt to hang onto their play-off position is slowly starting to wear very thin with the fans.

Nigel himself stated he may have to bring in more academy players if the injury trend continues.

The main issue for Nigel will be who he decides should play up front with Maguire and Bennett not able to spark the team into life mid-week. Maguire may have been worrying about his broken nose which most definitely would when going up for a header or in for a solid challenge.

For me Ball and Cywka should be given a chance to lead the attack from the start of a match and give fans the big/small man combination they have been crying out for since the start of the season. If Robinson recovers from injury in time then Ball and Robinson would also be an attractive prospect.

Maguire should be let heal to ensure his head is on the job rather than what must be a painful injury to carry into a game.

The rest of the team pretty much picks itself due to availability and it all that remains is to see if Nigel gets creative with whom plays in what position as he may decide to see if he can get a square peg into a round hole.

Despite a poor showing mid-week I think the Rams still have the core of their best team on the pitch and will have enough talent to get them back to winning ways.

Dan J’s Score Prediction:

Peterborough’s recent form is no more impressive than the Rams and with the Derby players keen to get back on track – I believe they will make it so.

Peterborough 1 - Derby 2