Match report from Ramzone

Saved the day Rams 2-1 Barnsley

By Daniel Brooks
Date: 2/11/2006

For anyone who wasn't at the game, do not be fooled by the result; we were diabolical for the majority of this game and I struggled to remember (at first) a worse performance in the six or so years I've been going regularly to watch the team.

The Rams 2-1 Barnsley
Hassell (13), Barnes (72, 76)

The passing was awful, there was no movement, defenders were out of position and Barnsley looked akin to Arsenal as they carved us apart time after time. The only problem for the Tykes is that they don't have someone who can consistently score goals like we have in Stevie Howard and that's why they're in the bottom three and we're riding high in 9th place.

Matt Oakley and Morten Bisgaard were unable to start due to knocks and so Giles Barnes started after his heroics at Cardiff as Billy decided to give his 4-3-3 system another (and hopefully last) go. Whilst I see the benefit of putting three strikers on the pitch it just isn't working with this particular threesome of Howard, Stead and Lupoli; the latter especially struggling to find his form from earlier in the season whilst being forced to drift wide.

For sixty minutes we were terrible as I've said above; there was none of the fluent passing we are capable of and every ball out of defence seemed to be knocked straight up to Howard in the hope that we might pick up the loose ball after he inevitably won the header. This is all well and good and it is helpful that Howard can win the ball and take the pressure off but trying to it thirty times a game is simply not the answer and as someone brought up on the idea that Derby County once played good football I'm not prepared to accept it as a viable way of playing.

This madness only appeared to stop after Billy made two key changes; first Ryan Smith came on for the completely ineffective Jon Stead at half time and then Morten Bisgaard replaced Adam Bolder on 65 minutes. These substitutions seemed to do the trick as the Rams now had REAL width with Barnes and Lupoli moving in their preferred positions and whilst we were by no means any good we were better with more pace in Smith and guile in Bisgaard (pace and guile; sounds like a quality name for a stand up act).

The Barnsley goal was indicative of the performance that Derby gave; for saying that Stephan Bywater has been more than reliable with crosses this really did sum up the first half as he came out and got nowhere near McIndoe's corner leaving Bobby Hassell with the simple task of heading into the empty net on 13 minutes. It had been coming; in the first 10 minutes Barnsley had already managed to take complete control and the Rams, who clearly thought they'd walk this ala the Southend game, looked completely shell shocked despite we Billy's constant reminders since last week that the Tykes were not to be underestimated.

Speaking of Michael McIndoe; why didn't we get this version of him when Terry Westley made the seemingly shrewd move to bag him on loan at the deadline last season. He was easily the best player on the pitch tonight and was full of pace and movement which unsettled the Rams all game; his crossing was excellent as were his deliveries from set-pieces (although we never saw him take any free kicks and such last season due to the presence of a certain Spaniard). It's a shame he didn't put on that sort of display for us as Steve Howard would love to play with the likes of him in current form.

Back t'match and as I'm doing away with the first half we'll move on to the second; as mentioned already, Ryan Smith was on straight away and he made a difference; Smith has the look of a player who will flatter to deceive but lets not lose sight of the fact he's not yet 20 years old and will improve as he matures with experience. He did not have the beating of Barnsley sub Neil Austin but did get enough space to deliver some telling crosses which ended up in goals; his pace and trickery did not always get the better of the fullback but caused problems as the Tykes were forced to pull back more defenders to deal with this new threat.

I rate Ryan Smith; his potential is tremendous and like Giles Barnes he need only harness that potential to become a great player and the signs are there; the last time I saw Smith in action was at Hillsbrough, where after a tricky start he began to light up the place before injury struck. He displays tricks but doesn't get consumed by them like some Portuguese winkers I could mention and his crossing is decent based on this games evidence. It's not beyond reason that Ryan may now start against West Brom on Saturday as Billy surely realises we looked almost competent with proper wide midfielders on the pitch.

Smith was involved in the goals but before all of that there were two key chances that went begging, one for each side; the first came just after half time and would have properly sawn the game up as Martin Devaney burst free down the Derby left and crossed beautifully into the path of March Richards who inexplicably put his shot the wrong side of the post when it was almost certain he would score.

At the other end, the out of sorts Arturo Lupoli nearly got back on the goal trail when he got on the end of Smith's excellent pull back but the young Italian was thwarted by the left hand of Colgan who pushed the shot onto the post. Just when you thought that we would never get back into it we suddenly did and then took somehow found ourselves in the lead; a situation we've been on the reverse of a couple of times this season.

The equaliser came on 72 minutes and was made solely by man of the moment Giles Barnes; firstly he was hacked down by Richards outside the box on the left and from Smith's corner the ball was only half cleared straight to Barnes who needed no invitation and cracked home a low left footed effort past Colgin to bring the Rams back onto level terms.

That was a good strike but the winner was better; Smith's corner was cleared only as far as Seth Johnson who found the winger in a ton of space back out on the left where the former Arsenal man had the time to deliver a cutting cross that was knocked down in the path of Barnes, prefect placed for him to lash it into the roof of the net on the volley to complete a memorable week of staggeringly good goals from the midfielder.

That left 15 minutes for the Rams to hang on and whilst Barnsley did have the ball in the net, Hayes was deemed offside the shell shocked Tykes and their supporters were forced to return to Yorkshire with nothing instead of the three points they should have taken away from "Fortress" Pride Park.

So a home win despite it all; Stead was a passenger, Lupoli was quiet, Howard was well marshalled by the excellent Paul Reid, Camara had a nightmare as did Bywater but we got the three points and as they say; if you can pick up points when you don't play well, you're on the right track. The fear for Barnsley, who I can't praise enough for an excellent performance, is that they played well and lost which highlights the need for that consistent goalscorer to keep you in the league.

It's the visit of a different animal on Saturday as West Brom come to Pride Park with Kamara, Gera, Ellington, Hartson, Koumas and Carter in tow; put it this way - I won't be talking about a Derby win on Saturday if we play like we did tonight as the Baggies will rip us apart so easily it won't be funny. Knowing us as we do; what's the odds on a comfortable win?


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Derby County: Bywater 6; Camara 4; Moore 5; Leacock 7; Edworthy 6 (Jackson 5); Bolder 5 (Bisgaard 6); S Johnson 7; Barnes 7; Lupoli 5; Howard 6; Stead 4 (Smith 6).
Subs not used: Boertien; Grant.
Bookings: Leacock.

Barnsley: Colgan; Hassell (Austin); Reid; Heckingbottom; Togwell; Kay; McIndoe; Howard; Devaney; Richards (Nardiello); Wright (Hayes).
Subs not used: Healy; Williams.
Bookings: Richards.

Referee: Andy Penn 6.

Attendance: 21,295.