The Rams had little time to reflect this week on the point gained - or two points dropped - in the 1-1 draw at Coventry City, with another League game on Tuesday and ‘the big one’ against F*rest on Sunday.

The Football Association declared that they had found nothing wrong in their investigations of the alleged Norwich City - Derby County betting scam. Neither has the UK betting authorities. Both clubs deny any wrongdoing and the FA investigations will go on.

Rams’ loanee Robbie Savage returned from his one-month spell at Brighton & Hove Albion with a shin injury. The Welshman played six times for the south-coast club; they won only once in that time and in that game (vs. Millwall), he was withdrawn at half time with the Seagulls 0-2 down. For the moment it seems that Robbie will now be making up the numbers at Moor Farm.

The good form of goalkeeper Stephen Bywater has displaced Roy Carroll, which in turn has pushed young Welsh goalkeeper Lewis Price has gone out on loan at football franchisers MK Dons. The Rams have three good goalkeepers but it’s unlikely that they would retain all three or could keep them happy.

Dean Leacock missed out for the Norwich City home game on Tuesday with his calf injury but midfielder Paul Green, who managed to rick his neck off field last week, was now fit for selection. Martin Albrechtsen had made rapid progress from his hernia op and fans were surprised - after first reading he might be fit for the Forest game - to see him ready for selection even earlier, at the Norwich match.

Against Norwich, the Rams set off on the front foot, rocking the Canaries back on their heels with the pace and persistence of the attacking intent. Derby put in their best performance of the season to win 3-1.

Albrechtsen did play and came through the full 90 minutes in a solid return. Hulse worked hard and led the line well, Ellington grafted prodigiously alongside without much reward. As with Hulse, once a League goal or two come Nathan’s way, he could go on a scoring streak.  Derby’s dynamo, Paul Green was back from injury scampering everywhere as usual; Commons tricked and teased the Canaries’ defence in another entertaining performance, capping it with a fine assist for Rob Hulse’s goal.

Green put Derby ahead on 13 minutes after good work by Ellington and Rob Hulse doubled the lead just before the half-hour mark placing another fine cross from Kris Commons (who else?) beyond the keeper. Norwich were being outplayed, second to everything. Derby were quick, physical, positive and penetrative, looking a progressive and effective side.

Bywater had an untroubled first half and was whiling away his time in goal as Derby dominated the first ten minutes of the 2nd half. He then demonstrated excellent concentration when he made a brilliant reflex save on 55 minutes after Norwich’s first serious goal attempt but City were becoming more ambitious as Derby hadn’t yet put the game beyond their reach.

The Canaries snatched a ray of hope soon afterwards when Kennedy headed home from a set piece.

How the Rams must have rued missing some good chances to extend their lead, after resuming relentless pressure on the Norwich goal upon the restart! Derby were uncomfortable for a spell as Norwich finally showed a little more bite in between their remarkably frequent offsides.

Jewell replaced Teale and Hulse with Kazmierczak and Villa and the Rams finally managed to get back into an attacking groove to secure the game. Kaz strode up to strike Derby’s third goal after 80 minutes and Norwich’s challenge faded.

Ruben Zadkovich got a taste of the action with a late debut appearance as a substitute and the Rams completed a prompt and satisfying first ‘double’ of the season, having won at Norwich earlier in October.

The win brought optimism and anticipation to the Rams faithful ahead of the big local ‘derby’ with F*rest. Norwich manager Glenn Roeder was banished to the stands and reported for improper conduct by the referee, apparently for taking exception to the incredible number of offside decisions his forwards invoked.

It was a promising performance and a satisfying win, the Rams had climbed to the top 10 in the Championship; meanwhile F*rest had crept off bottom spot after Tuesday night’s results.

They broke their awful (wonderful!) losing sequence by winning 2-1 at Crystal Palace (who must be awful!) but the East Midlands clash still begged the question: could the Rams do for Colin Calderwood in 2008 what they did for Joke Kinnear in 2004 - and condemn him to the order of the boot?

The Rams have sent Parris Simmons out on loan to Burton Albion and he figured in the Brewers’ 3-1 home victory over Ebbsfleet United, whilst Academy prospect Ross Atkins is on loan at Southport FC.

On the commercial front, Derby have entered a partnership with Westfield store Lab Sports which will enable the Rams to extend availability of their replica kit outside of the stadium shop.

The sold-out ‘derby’ game was preceded by the usual tense build-up; Paul Jewell wanted to reward the fans’ faith with victory over the auld enemy (PJ had insisted on calling them ‘Notts F*rest’ presumably just to get right up their noses), and Colin Calderwood was hoping for more redemption after the Trees managed to win at Palace in midweek.

Saturday's results left Derby in 13th spot in the table (with F*rest 2nd bottom) with the Rams having a chance to go 7th. Several current Derby-Forest connections on the pitch added more spice to the encounter.

Schemer Kris Commons faced the club he left for Derby County last summer. Robert Earnshaw is not pulling up any trees yet at the City Ground after his useless, expensive spell at Pride Park Stadium; he’s also been characteristically and typically in and out of the Trees’ squad with injuries though has claimed five goals so far. Ex-Rams’ goalie Lee Camp, now on loan at Forest, played against his hometown club.

The Rams suffered an immediate blow with Martin Albrechtsen having to drop out of selection contention with an injury, so Leacock and Nyatanga played in central defence. When the match got under way, Rob Hulse was soon struggling from the battering received from Trees defender Morgan and was replaced by Tito Villa after a collision on 28 minutes.

It turned out to be a day for heroes and villains as far as the Rams were concerned, a scrappy battle finally having a breathless and eventful climax. The first half was scoreless and rather dour; there were few openings and the Rams’ final ball was poor, their attacks being frustratingly wasteful.

Barazite had replaced Teale at half time and though the Rams started the second half with purpose, nothing came of early pressure and F*rest took the lead on 54 minutes. Derby laboured to clear Forest’s attack until, after Bywater had parried a Luke Chambers effort, the ball rebounded off Tito Villa into the wrong net, for an unfortunate own goal.

It was time for the Rams to dig deep yet again and demonstrate their powers of recovery.

Derby regrouped and thirteen minutes later Kris Commons delivered a teasing ball that Barazite flicked on and Emanuel Villa finished it off, now being the ‘villa-in’ and hero after netting at either end of the pitch! The game was building to a tense climax and after a flurry of yellow cards, F*rest had McGuigan sent off for a foul on Paul Green.

Novice fast-track referee Stuart Attwell then had his latest moments of controversy, becoming the true villain of the day, twice denying Derby what seemed to be a hard-fought victory.

He disallowed Addison’s powerful header, failing to play on for a moment to allow Derby the advantage they clearly had and instead awarding them a penalty. The 33,000 crowd was rocking, as were F*rest - and Rams fans smelt blood.

Lee Camp dramatically frustrated the crowd that used to cheer him by turning aside Barazite’s low spot kick - and then saved brilliantly from Kazmierczak.

The Rams pressed F*rest back as the game moved into added time and Addison forced another header home, for what looked like the winning goal, but both players and crowd were incredulous when the referee elected to award F*rest a free kick for reasons that remain unclear. So it ended all square at 1-1, and Derby climbed to 9th in the Championship table.

After Camp’s late and treacherous heroics to rescue the Trees and foil Derby’s victory bid, the goalie said he couldn’t see anything wrong with Miles Addison’s headed “winner” and said that Derby had been ‘hard done by’. Camp was now ironically a City Ground ‘golden boy’ and Rams fans felt cheated.

A furious Paul Jewell stoically recognised that referees, at the centre of attention when it suits them, soon vanish into anonymity to avoid the media glare and refuse any interviews, leaving distraught players and managers to make sense of the official’s decisions in public.

When asked if he would send in a critical report about referee Attwell, Jewell opined that the authorities would ‘probably make paper planes out of it, anyway’, given the Rams’ fate at the hands of officials in several recent games.

Another busy week beckoned for Derby with a visit to Brighton & Hove Albion on Tuesday in the Carling Cup, before a League trip to Reading next Saturday. It never lets up!
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As the Trees were in division three (League One) in RamsWeek 44 last year, there was no fevered anticipation of the local ‘derby’ in 2007 for Rams fans and it was again case of ‘if, buts and maybes’ both on and off the park.

The major news was that some of the rumour and speculation concerning the future of the club was resolved, as ex-Hull chief Adam Pearson joined the Rams’ board.

He acquired Peter Gadsby’s shareholding for the value at which Gadsby himself had acquired it and took over the chairmanship of Derby County. Pearson’s primary objective was to attract major inward investment into the club.

Gadsby retained a board position as a non-executive director and although the Premier League dream had turned rapidly sour, he had wrested control of the club from a regime whose members and associates outfit ultimately find themselves in Northampton Crown Court under charges of fraud and money laundering.

Sleightholme’s board had left the club close to extinction with debts of £54m, the fanbase was seething and their stadium had been mortgaged to an amorphous Panamanian finance house.

Current speculation switched to the security of Billy Davies’ tenure as Rams manager as Adam Pearson took the helm, at first declaring his full support for the irascible Scot.

His team played ineffectually at Villa Park, the home side easing to an effortless 2-0 win. Even though the Rams had survived to the interval at a welcome 0-0, trademark schoolboy defending gifted Villa two rapid goals - and that was that.

Derby County were turning in apologetic displays and surrendering readily to all opposition, bookies had already paid out on the Rams’ predicted instant relegation and fans wondered if there were 20-odd further cheerless matchdays in store for 2007-08 as their team became anchored in bottom spot.

Photo: Action Images

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