Derby County faced two very challenging games at home against promotion contenders to ring in the New Year but aimed to see in 2012 with the club progressing in an upward direction.

After the relaxed indulgences of Christmas Day, Derby fans looked forward to some feisty festive fayre with the visit of Leeds United, for a sell-out Boxing Day clash against old rivals.

It was a much-anticipated contest and the Rams had won their five previous matches against the Yorkshire foes. Nigel Clough replaced the injured Jeff Hendrick with Callum Ball and at last, Nathan Tyson was fit enough to make his first start in a Derby shirt since joining from relegation-threatened Nothingham Forest last summer.

Derby’s substitute bench looked strong for a change, too, with Robinson, O’Brien, Ben Davies and Priskin joining sub goalkeeper Legzdins.

Fans hoped the new-look strike partnership of Ball and Tyson in a 4-4-2 formation would re-ignite Derby’s goal threat and there was a cracking Christmas atmosphere from the 33,000-strong attendance, with almost 4,200 away fans making their voices heard.

It did indeed prove to be feisty fayre in a memorable Championship contest, with both sides giving as good as they got in a hectic opening period though DirtyLeeds easily won the contest for dissent, simulation and bloody-minded challenges. No doubt Snodgrass and Becchio are well in the running for Leeds’ Annual Billy Bremner Merit Awards for Gamesmanship and Petulance.

The Rams were fired up for the challenge and the level of performance throughout the team was very high. Derby clinched a tight, exciting game with a well-taken second-half goal from Jamie Ward, to extend their winning sequence over Leeds to six games in a row.

Goal-scoring chances weren’t plentiful for either team in the first half, but there was plenty of cut-and-thrust action as both sides fought to gain the upper hand. Derby’s defence was looking imperious with the formidable central duo of Shackell and Barker in commanding form; Brayford defended crisply and added his wing-thrust on the right, whilst Roberts held firm at left-back.

Doubts about goalkeeper Frankie Fielding were rubbed out in a brilliant performance that he maintained until the end, pulling off a string of superb saves and at least three stops that prematurely had the Leeds fans off their feet celebrating a ‘goal’ and Rams fans expecting the net to ruffle.

The England keeper bounced back emphatically from recent criticism - and only Adam Legzdins will be disappointed about that! The Rams successfully defended 11 Leeds corners too, and so - even if Leeds were wasteful in front of goal - Derby had improved their aerial competence and defensive covering to complement Fielding’s excellent performance.

In midfield, Bryson was back to his urgent, snappy best and James Bailey, now emerging from his long injury lay-off, worked intelligently and displayed some excellent passing. Paul Green misfired a little but characteristically, he never gave up.

It’s refreshing to report how effective the front two were: Callum Ball led the attack with a powerful and mature performance, believing more and more in his own abilities and Nathan Tyson added pace and presence. Clough can utilise the power and pace that Ball and Tyson provide, so the attack was able to worry defenders and make its presence felt, unlike the tepid ‘one up-front’ formation that has all too often been employed this season.

Ty might have scored in the first half had he been a little sharper with a reasonable chance and Ball took and gave plenty of punishment from the determined Leeds back line. Theo Robinson replaced Tyson just after an hour and might have made better of a couple of situations where his speed of movement looked like putting him 1-on-1 with Leeds keeper Lonergan. If only Theo can add speed of thought to his armoury as well…

The effervescent Jamie Ward won the game with a coolly-taken 67th minute strike, easing the ball home instantly from a tight angle on the rebound after his first shot had been parried by Leeds’ keeper Andy Lonergan. Pride Park exploded, and Derby fought tenaciously to protect their lead.

Ward had struck the base of the left post in the first half with a crisp strike and whilst Bailey took the Man of the Match vote, Jamie, along with several others could have justifiably been named as Derby’s top man. It was a tenacious, committed and resourceful team performance that recalled the fresh and spirited opening weeks of the season.

Leeds strove fiercely for an equaliser but the Rams were not to be denied. Fielding’s performance turned out to be as important as Jamie Ward’s crucial strike as Derby claimed their first defensive ‘clean sheet’ for 15 games. Nigel Clough rightly declared: ‘defence was the key’ and goalie and back-four put in brilliantly resolute displays to keep a determined Leeds fight-back at bay.

Fielding’s astonishing double-save from McCormack and Clayton close to the end of the match had the crowd blinking in disbelief - and Brayford still had to scoop a Kisnorbo header off the line. It was a breathless climax but Derby came out on top to wrap up three hard-fought points.

Derby fans were joyous as well as relieved at an important and prestigious victory, and probably also wondered whether the team could now sustain that level of performance week on week.

With such a good all-round display to get their season back on track, club and fans may dare to have a positive sense of direction about the future, as the Rams strive to make progress and build on the good things seen so far this season.

Supporters now want Derby to wipe out the dreadful memory of January 2011 where nothing went right on or off the pitch and for the club to tread a positive path towards the top of the Championship.

It is a better team than last year - but is it good enough to stay the course and make a challenge? Give us good reason to queue up keenly to renew those season-tickets, Derby - instead of seeing us grudgingly stumping up the price with a resigned shake of the head…!

After the Boxing Day results, the Rams edged up to 14th in the table, 6 points from the top-six. There is plenty of ground to make up but if Derby can sustain this form they may still re-join the battle nearer the top of the table.

Apart from reservations about Derby’s overall squad depth and quality, the future largely lies in the fitness and availability of key players and the blend or formation the manager is trying to achieve.

Though Jeff Hendrick and Steve Davies are absent through injury, manager Clough is able to make team selections closer to his strongest current 16. It’s now half-way through the season and there have been too many defeats and too many goals conceded so far; that must change if the Rams are to signal a stronger direction for 2012.

To that necessary squad development and on-field improvement, we can add in the persistent question marks about the ability (and willingness) of the club’s owners to fund a ‘marquee’ signing or two that would turn the team from triers into contenders.

The major signings have been defenders Barker and Shackell; whilst solidity in defence is a prerequisite, it is goals that win games and the side has lacked a natural goalscorer.

After four years in charge, GSE operate a club possessing a very large and loyal fanbase but with a team yet to figure in the top half of the table at the end of each season. Another such failure would severely test supporter patience and one wonders if GSE’s capacity for reviving an English football club’s fortunes would then be so diminished that they might give up and sell up.

January will see players moving out but there needs to be some inward transfer movement too after the loss of Anderson and Riggott, with Mark O’Brien also sadly ruled out for the rest of the season with ligament damage. The current promotion contenders have far more strength in depth.

Derby has cancelled the contract of goalkeeper Stephen Bywater and expects to transfer Stephen Pearson in the New Year. They also want to move such as Dean Leacock, David Martin, Lee Croft and others out on loan to cut wages.

Clough admitted that his summertime shopping had been ‘incomplete’ when asked this week about possible squad reinforcements - but other utterances from the club suggest that all wage savings will not be given over to the manager for new recruits.

Mr Glick trod a familiar path in a pre-match interview with Radio Derby, when pressed on whether the Rams might sign a proven striker like Billy Sharp - who could get the goals to mount a promotion challenge. Glick reiterated the need for prudence on wages and said that the squad was ‘running heavy’ and ‘had more players than the manager could actually play’, pretty exasperating stuff when looking at the lack of cover in certain areas!

Another formidable test awaited the Rams at home to West Ham on Saturday. The Rams were comfortably beaten at the Boleyn Ground last month but the Hammers, second in the table before the game, had four players suspended for their visit to Pride Park Stadium on the last day of 2011.

Nolan, Faubert, McCartney and Collison were suspended having incurred 5 bookings apiece already, showing that Sam Allardyce’s side can readily mix the muscle with their so-called ‘Academy’ style of football. Allardyce was still able to reserve two international strikers, John Carew and Carlton Cole, for the substitute’s bench.

Big Sam also had half-a-dozen injuries to contend with, so Derby for once could let the other club worry about the length of their absentee list - but West Ham nevertheless arrived at Derby as the team that had won more away points than any other in the Championship.

In contrast, Nigel Clough was able to name an unchanged team, with Jake Buxton replacing the injured Mark O’Brien on the substitute’s bench.

From the outset, the home side set off on the front foot and it was clear that Derby intended to test how the weakened Hammers team would stand up to the pressure.

The answer was: ‘not very well!’ The Rams grabbed a two-goal lead in a whirlwind first ten minutes, which laid the foundations for another satisfying home win.

After two minutes, a throw-in found Tyson and his lay-off was speared superbly into Robert Green’s net from the edge of the penalty area by Callum Ball. After another seven minutes of pressure on the Hammers’ defence, Gareth Roberts thrust a cross deep into their penalty area and Paul Green dived in to head home past a started Green.

The Republic of Ireland midfielder has quickly regained top form after his long lay-off and if he is sold in January to cut wages, Derby will be sadly depleted by the loss of his energy and rediscovered goalscoring touch. It was a great start by Derby, although they didn’t take chances to increase West Ham’s pain and make the match safe.

The Hammers could only improve and they finally started to play football ten minutes before the half-time whistle and took control of the game for that spell. Nouble slotted home a cool drive to reduce the arrears and Derby rued missed opportunities, particularly a brace of snatched and hasty Jamie Ward shots that missed the target.

2-1 to Derby at half time - and that’s how it stayed, after a combative and tense second period to bring a second excellent holiday home win for the Rams. West Ham probed and threatened but Derby had the better chances to extend their lead. All the Hammers had to show in the end were another fistful of yellow cards, given for a selection of offences of dissent and foul play.

Barker and Shackell were immense in Derby’s defence and Gareth Roberts contributed one of his best performances. Callum Ball is maturing with every match and now gives opposing defenders plenty to contend with physically - without conceding unnecessary free kicks.

At this rate he will solve Derby’s long-standing need for a genuine target man and the attack looks more dangerous, Ball proving capable of holding the ball up for other players to join in to cause problems for opposing defences.

Again, it was a superb team effort and the Rams have turned around their deteriorating home form with three wins on the bounce. Maximum points from two top-six sides was more than most fans expected and it has set Derby in an upward direction going into the New Year.

They climbed to 11th in the table and the team currently looks more likely to rejoin the chase for a top-six spot than drift into another struggle in the bottom third of the Championship table. Keep it up, lads!

There’s no chance for the Rams to rest on their laurels however, as they travel to play Hull City on Bank Holiday Monday. Happy New Year to RamZoners everywhere and here’s to a great 2012 for Derby County!

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In RamsWeek 1 of 2011, Derby were travelling in the wrong direction - it seemed like ‘five gears in reverse’ in fact, as they resumed their Championship campaign after the Boxing Day fixture postponement and were on the end of a heavy defeat from local rivals Nothingham Forest.

Sloppy defending all afternoon let Forest make telling inroads into Derby’s flimsy defence and the Trees took the lead after only two minutes. The Rams were 3-1 down at half-time and lost 5-2, a Kris Commons free kick being the only reply to the Forest rampage, with ex-Rams Tudgay and Earnshaw getting on the scoresheet.

Nigel Clough was seething at the Rams’ inept display and berated several players publicly, including the hapless Dean Leacock and particularly young Polish forward Tomasz Cywka, whom according to Clough, could “go back to League Two or Poland or wherever you’re from”. Quite a team talk, as media and fans suggested when the phone-ins and messageboards lit up brightly!

As Clough suggested that if players couldn’t do it, he’d move on to the ‘next group’ of players, RamsWeek suggested that the level of team development was lower than manager and club had asserted and we wondered if Clough would be given financial backing during the transfer window to acquire better quality and depth?

The Rams recovered to win 2-1 at Preston North End on New Year’s Day, courtesy of a Chris Porter ‘double’ but sadly from then on it turned out to be a bleak January, in terms of results and transfer activity.

Top scorer Commons was reportedly attracted to Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic, and a patched-up Rams team had to face non-League Crawley Town in the FA Cup.

Photo: Action Images

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