Every point counts so they say but for Derby County this season, it could be a case of the points dropped that make all the difference.

Derby County 1-1 Bolton Wanderers
Miller 19; Anelka 31

If you look at the games we’ve played so far, discounting the thrashings against Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal, there is a case for arguing that we should have taken more points than we actually did from every other game.

At Man City we were solid and enterprising on the break, at least in the first half, and we could have taken the maximum against Portsmouth after a spirited display and yesterday against fellow strugglers Bolton, who admittedly came to Pride Park on the back of a three game unbeaten run but looked, Anelka aside, nothing special.

We have five points from our opening eight games and if you look at the fixtures I would have hoped for six or seven, judging by our opposition, so it’s not too bad a start in my opinion and its pleasing to note that we do appear to be able to pick up points at home; a must if we are stay in this league. Make though mistake though; our current tally of points sees us propping up the league and we will need to start turning decent performances into victories otherwise it’ll be relegation, no matter that we do appear to be starting to find our feet among football’s elite.

For the visit of Sammy Lee’s Bolton Billy made a couple of changes from the trip to the Emirates; Jay McEveley replaced Andy Griffin at left back and David Jones made just his second start of the season in place of Gary Teale, who for me was unlucky to be left out after a good run of form.

The match started at some pace and it was the Rams that made most of the early running; Stephen Pearson has been our star performer and it was one of his driving runs that made the first opening; his pace took the Bolton midfield by surprise and after bursting past a flat-footed Gary Speed the chance was there for a shot that the Scot for some reason chose not to take, instead passing square to Miller who managed to work a corner out of very little space.

After swift move down the left flank saw Lewis find Oakley in acres of space near the edge of the area but the Rams captain couldn’t get enough purchase on the shot, despite the time and space allowed to him and the result was more of a pass to Jaaskelainen rather than the opening goal.

David Jones, a forgotten man so far this season, went into the book on just seven minutes for clattering Speed. Jones looked determined to make his mark early on and this was just one of several fierce challenges put in by the midfielder, who let’s face it is hardly known for his tough tackling.

Aside from that though it was a difficult game for the former Manchester United man who looks out of sorts at this level; the talent is unquestionable but Jones appears very lightweight against such strong opposition, something which needs addressing if he is to make any sort of positive impact on this season.
Bolton’s first chance came from one such Jones tackle which sent Nicolas Anelka to the ground; Gary Speed stepped up but his effort was deflected for a corner by Oakley. Aside from that though it was mainly the home side doing the attacking and it resulted in the first goal on 18 minutes.

Mears played an angled ball perfectly into the path of Howard whose control was excellent allowing the big front man to drill a low cross into the box for Miller to step on to and drill first time past Jaaskelainen for his second goal in as many home games. It was a well worked goal and another fine finish from Miller who has taken no time in introducing himself to the Rams faithful.

Full back Joey O’Brien went into the book for a bad lunge on Eddie Lewis on the half hour mark although the result free kick came to nothing; the Rams were showing too little urgency in their play since taking the lead and whilst it was no surprise when Bolton levelled matters on 31 minutes, the quality of the defending has to be in doubt.

From an attacking point of view, the goal was all about Anelka who was allowed to travel with the ball right into the heart of the Rams defence with very little in the way of a challenge; the Frenchman used his awesome talent to create that half a yard of space to work an angle and fired a low shot that with the aid of a deflection beat Bywater to level the scores.

It was a tad unfortunate but someone in a white shirt should have at the very least tried to take him out – Anelka is one of the more talented players in the world; I know it, the rest of the crowd knew it and surely the players knew it as well and yet the Rams managed to let him run a good thirty yards towards goal unchallenged when they know in their minds that they can’t afford to do so. Naivety has cost us more than once this season and the players need to start realising that you can’t give that much space to top quality forwards; otherwise we’re going to keep shipping shoddy goals again and again.

Indecision was key in the Rams defence as Bolton surged onwards, lifted by their equaliser; a long ball found its way into the Rams penalty area and not for the first time Stephen Bywater was miles away from his goal but got away with it as although the ball fell to Kevin Nolan his angle was too tight and he could only find the side netting.

There was a worrying flatness about the Rams following their opening goal and half came time as something of a relief. Billy would need to awaken his team if they were to get anything from this game as Bolton had looked increasingly threatening as the game wore on and it would be tricky to recover from a home defeat to a relegation rival.

Half Time: Rams 1-1 Bolton

Billy clearly got amongst his players at half time as the Rams came out with renewed vigour and although it didn’t last long it nearly resulted in a second goal; McEveley’s strong overlapping run was found by Lewis’ pass and the “Scot” burst into the Bolton penalty area before dragging the ball back into the path of Miller whose first time shot was brilliantly saved by the diving Jaaskelainen when a goal seemed certain.

It was a big chance and just about the last one the Rams would get as the game wore down into a stalemate between too teams short on the sort of invention you need to win games in this division. Moments of occasional quality were few and far between although Lewis created another opening on the hour when his excellent cross found its way to Miller who blazed over from seven yards; the angle was tight to be fair but you have to say he should have at least troubled the goalkeeper from that sort of distance.

At the other end some suspect defending allowed Diouf to cross in a superb low ball that none of the Bolton players were willing to gamble on and it was the first of three or four clear let offs for the Rams over the course of the next half hour.

Giles Barnes was introduced on 63 minutes and whilst he barely touched the ball it is pleasing to the Rams’ star player on the road to recovery at last.

Shortly afterwards Mears was caught daydreaming as a simple throw-in found substitute Wilhelmsson into space but the Swedish winger made a mess of things and passed the ball straight back to Bywater when he probably should have scored.

With 20 minutes to go the Rams almost fell behind as Bolton had three clear chances inside thirty seconds and Stephen Bywater finally showed why we rate him so highly after a fairly indifferent start to the season; Wilhelmsson got in behind and forced Bywater into a smart save to his left, the ball fell free to Diouf whose first time effort was then pushed on the bar by the Rams keeper and the loose ball was prodded goalwards by Nolan only for Pearson to hack clear on the goal line.

It was a mighty escape for the Rams and it would have been very harsh as neither side deserved to win this match; if the Rams had lost it would have caused some worry amongst the fans and so I am pretty relieved to say the least that the ball didn’t find its well into the net.

Bolton had one last chance as Diouf’s cross went inches of the diving Anelka and with that the match ended all square with both sides perhaps relieved to take a point after some less than sublime defending at either end of the pitch.

Claude Davis was monstrous for the Rams at the back (though you wouldn’t know seen as I haven’t actually mentioned him!) and whilst there were some other decent performances (McEveley springs to mind) there is still much work to be done if we are climb out of the bottom three; Reading conceded seven at Portsmouth this week so we can travel there knowing that they can be put under pressure and I can think of no better time to collect our first points away from Pride Park.

Full Time: Rams 1-1 Bolton

Daniel’s MOM: Claude Davis.

Rams: Bywater 7; McEveley 7; Mears 7; Leacock 7; Davis 8; Oakley 6; Pearson 7; Jones 5 (Barnes 4); Lewis 6 (Teale 4); Howard 6; Miller 7.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen; A O’Brien; Meite; J O’Brien (Braaten); Gardner; Speed (McCann); Campo; Nolan; Davies (Wilhelmsson); Anelka; Diouf.

Referee: R Stiles.

Attendance: 31,503.

Next up: Reading (away).

Photo: Action Images

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