Derby County commenced their 2012 Championship programme away at Hull City after excellent back-to-back Christmas victories over Leeds and West Ham before a home FA Cup tie.

Out-of-favour goalkeeper Stephen Bywater moved on as expected to Sheffield Wednesday, Scottish international Stephen Pearson joined Bristol City after his successful loan spell there.

The Rams completed the permanent signing of Mansfield defender Tom Naylor but (perhaps surprisingly, given the lack of defensive cover) allowed Miles Addison to extend his loan spell at Barnsley for another month.

Only Dean Leacock now remained from Billy Davies’ 2007 promotion side and it seemed likely that if the defender did not go out on loan, then Derby would cancel his contract as well.

With three big-earners removed from the payroll, loanees Kilbane and Priskin sent back to their clubs and Anderson and Riggott released as well, Rams fans hoped that there might be some squad strengthening instead of significant transfer sales.

Though Clough has no cover at full-back and little cover in central defence, he declared himself happy with his back four now it is settled with Shackell and Barker in the centre and Roberts and Brayford established in the full-back slots. The manager will pray for no repeat of the injuries that have plagued his squad and may wait until the ‘loan window’ to draft in defensive cover.

The Rams travelled to the KC Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday hoping to extend their welcome recent upturn in form against Hull City. The Tigers had progressed to a top-six spot and looked forward to a successful 2012.

Ex-Derby Chairman Adam Pearson has had to contend with the departure of manager Nigel Pearson to Leicester City since 2011-12 commenced but Hull have kept up their challenge - including an away win at Derby recently - under Nicky Barmby.

Nigel Clough started with Theo Robinson in attack alongside Callum Ball with Nathan Tyson rested, in the only change from the team that beat West Ham.

Hull started the game by whacking Jamie Ward, presumably to slow down the Derby threat; the culprit, Rosenior went unpunished but soon earned a booking for tripping Ward. The Tigers endeavoured to force the pace and held the upper hand in early exchanges.

Hull monopolised possession in the first 25 minutes, forcing numerous corners, with Derby breaking sporadically but offering limited threat to the Hull goal. Instead of the effective 4-4-2 formation that Nigel Clough employed against Leeds and West Ham at home, Callum Ball was isolated up front with Theo Robinson wandering up the right wing.

The Rams nevertheless went into the break at 0-0, with Frank Fielding having dealt with any threats confidently and only being called into serious action to deny Matty Fryatt, in front of a Bank Holiday crowd of fewer than 21,000.

Straight after the break, Theo Robinson put Derby ahead. Bryson and Green created the danger and Theo netted at the second attempt, feinting then deliberating (for once) to make sure he struck the ball home. With 7 goals, Robinson became the Rams’ top scorer this season.

Derby held firm against Hull’s response, then Paul Green went close with an excellent attempt. The Rams soaked up what Hull could throw at them and late on, Tamas Priskin replaced Theo Robinson in attack in what was the Finn’s final loan appearance in a Derby shirt. Priskin occupied himself by often straying offside, which at least caused some precious seconds to elapse.

The Rams didn’t muster a single corner and posed a low threat to Tigers’ keeper Basso - and the isolation of Ball in the ‘one-up-front’ formation was a concern, as possession was not retained.

Derby had to withstand a frantic five minutes of stoppage time, during which Shackell was booked for time-wasting. The Rams saw out time safely to take the 1-0 victory and underline their tremendous recovery in the past two weeks.

You can’t argue with 9 points from three games or 4 wins in 5 games and again, the foundation for the success was the imposing defensive partnership of Shackell and Barker, in another excellent team performance.

The burst of good form has carried the Rams back into the top ten of the Championship table; they are 9th on 37 points, two points off a play-off place, which is an improvement on the same stage last season.

Coach Johnny Metgod was pleased with the progress and stressed that everyone needed to be realistic, and that the team had to continue to put in the performances, sometimes grinding out the results. “You never know,” he commented, when asked if Derby could be contenders this season.

Derby could prepare for their FA Cup game against Crystal Palace in good heart after a great start to the New Year.

There was encouraging news about the contract status of Republic of Ireland midfielder Paul Green, with the player declaring his wish to stay at Derby, that his family is settled in the area and of his affection for the club and fanbase.

Paul has made a big difference since returning from an eight-month injury lay-off and his characteristic all-action-performances are a major factor in the Rams’ recent recovery of form. If the January transfer window sees him leave it will be of great detriment to the football team.

Whilst Nigel Clough has commented that if Green left, he’d ‘try and get another Craig Bryson’- meaning a younger, similarly-talented and busy midfielder - is being sought by the club. Green signed on a free transfer (unusual for Jewell not to waste money) so now that he’s a full international, could command a fee - but not to his value as he is out of contract in a few months.

Green is the only remaining Paul Jewell signing in the team and probably the Scouser’s best signing; you can probably count the good ones on the hands of one arm.

Winger David Martin has left Derby County and moved on a permanent basis to Southend United He arrived at Derby County from Millwall in the summer of 2010, with such positive expectations Martin made little impact upon signing permanently.

Some would assert that he had not been given sufficient opportunity to make his mark, or could have been deployed when Derby needed to try available players to improve the delivery from the wings. Mr Clough obviously wasn’t ultimately enamoured with one of his early signings, so that’s that.

Tomasz Cywka, still on the fringes of the Derby squad and on offer to loan out, scored twice as the Rams’ reserves beat Port Vale 3-0 to retain top spot in their league. Alex Witham netted the other goal.

Stephen Pearson - probably to his own amazement - scored the most valuable goal in Derby County’s history when Derby beat WBA at Wembley in the play-off final in 2007 to clinch promotion to the Premier League, left Derby County this week by mutual consent.

Pearson otherwise ran up and down the pitch quite fast and quite a lot (when fit), in a form of football orienteering. He’s an honest player, though often neglected to look up for a teammate in delivering the ball on the end of his runs, or to strike the ball with enough venom or direction.

The move paved the way for Stephen to join Bristol City, where he has spent a successful loan spell, oddly finding the net himself on more than one occasion in a single season. Pearson rather blotted his copy-book on his comeback to City on a permanent basis on Saturday however, as he was sent off in their FA Cup defeat at Crawley Town.

Joy and sadness touched Derby fans too, as Ben Davies announced the birth of a son whilst ex-Rams loanee of another age, defender Gary Ablett, better known for his time with Liverpool, passed away after losing his battle with cancer at the age of just 47. RamZone sends sincere condolences to Gary’s family and friends.

Derby’s February home game against Leicester City has been moved forward two days for live television to Thursday, 23rd February. You probably know my feelings about that move.

Saturday saw the return of the top clubs to the FA Cup and the Rams faced Crystal Palace at Pride Park Stadium. 3rd Round ties these days attract small gates unless there is a major draw and despite Derby’s excellent League form, drew a gate of 10,000 which included some 600 Eagles supporters.

Nigel Clough played and unchanged side from that which defeated Hull City, though Palace boss Dougie Freedman, mindful of a Carling Cup semi-final with Stoke City in midweek, rang the changes and included several junior players.

Derby took control in the early stages and the decisive goal was scored by Theo Robinson after only 9 minutes, when the excellent Craig Bryson burrowed into the Palace penalty area and amid desperate Palace defending, provided Theo with a twice-taken chance to poke the ball past ex-Rams goalkeeper Lewis Price.

Had we known at that stage that the Rams would splutter and start for the remainder of the game, and fail to quite kill off an Eagles revival, we could have cleared off home into the warmth.

You can find deeper descriptions of the action within RamZone’s other two excellent match reports and suffice it to say that, beyond noting a spirited but unsuccessful fight-back from Palace, Derby squeezed themselves through to the 4th Round 1-0, and they will face Premier League Stoke City at Pride Park Stadium.

Nigel Clough was pleased of the Rams’ progress in the Cup and spoke of the impact that Theo Robinson has made since his return from injury. The manager referred to Theo as ‘an enigma’, acknowledging his rawness and sometimes tendency to fluff the simplest piece of control or awareness, yet enthusing about his ability to find the net and be a presence up front.

Robinson certainly characterises the ‘enigma variations’ in footballing terms, as fans must sometimes groan at or cheer his involvement in the action every other minute. He can burn off defenders with his pace, stray naively offside, see the ball punt off his toe annoyingly - and then find the net at crucial times as in the game at Hull and to again claim a winner against the Eagles on Saturday.

Still, Theo’s repetitive and deliberate attempts to persuade the ball to pass the opposing keeper for both of his last two goals show that he is sticking at it successfully when it matters in the thick of the action. He’s now netted 8 goals and is the Rams’ leading scorer and despite his wayward style, is winning games for Derby.

With a Championship home game against struggling, troubled Coventry City and four wins in a row under their belts, the Rams have started 2012 in far better form that at New Year in 2011.

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In RamsWeek 2, last season, Derby and Millwall performed a kind of ‘anniversary waltz’ against in-from Millwall, the two sides shuffling around Pride Park Stadium in a none-to-entertaining fashion to record a forgettable 0-0 draw. The 24,200 gate was Derby’s lowest of the season so far.

Midfielder Paul Green was the subject of transfer speculation at a possible price of £1.5m, with Wolves reportedly interested in his signature. That would not have pleased Derby fans, given other weaknesses in the squad, though reports linking defender Dean Leacock with WBA and Burnley were met with sighs of relief.

Moves away from Pride Park Stadium, a year later, still seem on the cards for the popular Green and the discarded Leacock.

There was plenty of other speculation about incoming Rams transfers or loans, as manager Clough recorded his 2nd anniversary as Derby manager and 100 games in charge.

A natural goalscorer was still keenly desired by the fanbase but as ever the club were characteristically guarded on whether they would splash out on such a ‘marquee’ signing.

The Rams recorded the biggest win in a competitive game in their history in beating Shirebrook Town 14-1 in the Derbyshire Senior Cup, leading just 8-1 at half-time. A young boy called Jeff Hendrick scored a hat-trick.

That victory eclipsed the12-1 UEFA Cup home win over Irish part-timers Finn Harps in September 1976, in which Kevin Hector scored 5 goals and both Charlie George and Leighton James thumped in hat-tricks. Them were the days, and I were there!

Photo: Action Images

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