For Those who Could not Attend

Date . EFL Second Home Fixture. 24 08 2019
Opponents West Bromwich Albion
Team :- Roos, Lowe, Keogh, Bielic, Buchanan,
Huddlestone, Lawrence. Knight
Waghorn, Marriott, Dowell
Subs:- Hamer, Paterson, Evans. Shinnie, Bennett. Marriott
Referee :- Jarred Gillett
Attendance :- Over 26,718
Conditions. Hot and sunny.
Pitch, Immaculate.

This was a challenging game against a formidable opposition. It was one in which they would have to do well if Derby fans were to be persuaded that there is a promising season ahead. As it turned out both teams acquitted themselves well.

Derby started very strongly, getting forward more quickly than so far this season. And were rewarded with a penalty won and taken by Waghorn, coming in at high speed from the right wing. He was brought down by Gibbs and the ref blew his whistle. Waghorn took the kick - shot to his left whilst the goalie dived to the right. The game continued with West Brom defending well and Derby doing most of the pressing. The ref blew for a second penalty for hand ball and again Waghorn lined up for the shot after much protesting by the West Brom players and the manager Bilic. The penalty stood in spite of the complaints and Waghorn, this time shot to his right and Johnstone also went that way and made a smart save. Later it was shown to be not a penalty so rough justice was achieved and Bilic seen to be somewhat justified in his protests with the emphasis on the word ‘somewhat’.

After half time West Brom, clearly re-motivated by Bilic pressed Derby very hard and Derby with two inexperienced but talented academy boys succeeded in keeping them out until, with less than ten minutes to go, Perriera was judged to be fouled in the area and a third penalty of the game was awarded. To derby’s faithful it looked like a dive but unfortunately not to the referee.
Subsequent examination showed that he had got it wrong again. 2 wrong out of 3 is simply not good enough but in my opinion more help from the 4th official would be preferable to introducing VAR to the championship. The penalty, taken by Zohore was duly slotted home to level the score.
Derby threatened and Tom Lawrence went on a thrust inside the visitors’ goal area and passed a good ball to Bennett whose shot was just wide. West Brom too threatened but the level score was maintained and I suppose we had the satisfied with the single point.

What can be taken from the game. Very good performances by the graduates Lowe, Buchanan and Knight. Another very good performance by Keogh - not quite so good from Bielik but satisfactory. Tom Lawrence was better but still bit up and down. Roos did well enough making a few important saves. I thought Dowell had a poor game and his free kicks and corners were just not good enough. Waghorn looked to be better with Marriott in the middle. He also played well and surely this partnership can be expected to develop into our best attacking line-up. Huddlestone was better than v. Bristol though he sometimes slows things down at entirely the wrong time.

Nevertheless, We can be reasonable pleased with the performance of our team against a very strong WBA with a defence of very quick giants . It was a step forward to reaching our best performing eleven.

Now for a winning performance against the Red Dogs next Tuesday.