Another season of Championship football was finally assured for the Rams after this determined victory against already relegated Charlton. 

The first half of this affair highlighted all the reasons why these two teams have both languished in the lower half of the table for much of the season.  The problem lay not in the amount of chances created by either team, but instead in their inability to capitalise upon their efforts. 

Kris Common’s claimed the best of Derby’s chances during the first half coming closest around the 20 minute mark, when a darting run from midfield opened up the opportunity for a shot. Whilst on previous occasions the Scotland international has managed to burst the back of the net from this distance, his attempt this time fell agonisingly wide. 

The second half started much brighter than the first.  Newly crowned player of the season Rob Hulse came tantalisingly close twice, and similar chances were had through Albrechtsen and Commons. It was clear that the Rams could sense that victory was in their grasp and with it mathematical safety. 

All the pressure on display at Pride Park today, was released by a Rob Hulse goal on 70 minutes. Gary Teale’s corner was cleared but only as far as Bannan who returned it back in to the box to be headed in by Hulse. 

With the season now all but over, the Ram’s can finally begin to look towards August and the start of the new Clough era in earnest.

This Easter visit to Hillsborough saw the Rams finally pass the magical 50 point barrier as they took one giant leap towards finally sewing up Championship football for next season.

The Derby side fielded today had a different feel about it, with the most noticeable absence being the rested Robbie Savage. The Rams’ keen to avoid the midweek thrashing at Cardiff bogging down their performance made an impressive start to the game.

Derby created a number of early chances keeping former Ram, Lee Grant busy. In the early stages of the game Hulse and Teale came closest for the Rams however arguably the most spectacular chance fell to Darren Potter whose free-kick for Wednesday stung the cross-bar leaving the Rams counting their luck.

As the first half was approaching its death Rob Hulse appeared to head home Gary Teale’s excellent free-kick.

Having entered half-time with the lead, the Rams emerged knowing that all they had to do was maintain a clean sheet.

For virtually the entire second half Sheffield Wednesday piled on the pressure, however despite Tudgay and Esajas both impressing they were unable to turn these opportunities.

By the end of the ninety minutes Derby’s play was beginning to appear increasingly scrappy but unlike previous games the Rams’ back line stood strong and held on for that all important victory.

Derby’s midweek visit to Ninian Park was the result of the previous tie being postponed due to the weather; after ninety minutes many Derby were left hoping once again for some divine intervention. 

Out of the blocks it was the Rams who created the best chances, with John Eustace twice making a nuisance of himself amongst the Bluebirds’ defence, but as Derby’s luck goes this season it was Cardiff who struck first. On 16 minutes Roger Johnson rose to head Peter Whittingham’s free-kick past a helpless Bywater. 

With a goal behind them Cardiff finally began to pick up the pace and challenged Derby on effort.  Throughout the rest of the half both sides posed threats, but both were able to soak up the others pressure. 

Like the first half it took Cardiff 16 minutes from the restart to find the net again. Gavin Rae was able to roll the ball home after latching on to the perfectly weighted through ball of Stephen McPhail.

With Derby’s defence now crumbling badly it took only two minutes before Jay Boothroyd reacted quickest from a Whittingham corner to made it 3 for the Bluebirds and effectively sealed up the three points. 

In a telling substitution Clough acted swiftly to replace Albrechtsen with Todd, whilst the Dane may have offered the Rams a rock on which to build their defence in earlier parts of the season in recent games he has increasingly become a liability. 

The presence of Todd however was not enough to stop the rot, and with eleven minutes left on the clock former Derby target and Kansas City Wizard Eddie Johnson stole the ball from the experienced Derby defender before tucking the ball neatly into the net. 

An Eddie Johnson own goal late into injury time offered little consolation for a Rams side who had once again had its defensive frailties ripped open for all to see. 

Nigel Clough must have been ecstatic with Derby’s Carling Cup win over Manchester United last week, expecting to see a new lease of life in Derby’s performance. His expectations against QPR could only have been more of the same, if not more.

Rob Hulse and Kris Commons both had reasonable attempts on goal in the first half but, unfortunately, nothing came of either shot.

After 22 minutes though, Wayne Routledge gave QPR the advantage slotting in a low strike past Carroll.

Confidence dwindled in the Derby camp, so much so that they allowed Mikele Leigertwood to hit the back of the net after more impressive work from Routledge before half time.

In the second half, Derby had more chances to level the score with Miles Addison and Andy Todd both challenging QPR keeper Radek Cerny but it wasn’t to be. QPR held strong and took all three points.

Fans Survey – Derby County

We’re running a short survey to gauge how optimistic fans feel about the forthcoming season, how Derby fans rate your manager, players and what you thought of the teams style of play towards the end of last season.

The survey is just 5 questions long and will only take a moment to complete. If you could forward the link to anyone you think would like to take part that would be much appreciated.

Click here to take part: Football Fans Census

http://www.footballfanscensus.com/surveys/questions.html?page=1&survey_id=298

Many thanks for your support

The FFC Team

If you’ve got a spare five minutes, pop along and make your voice heard. It could help towards the future of the football league, or even change the state of play with the behemoth that is The Football Association.

Derby County vs Espanyol

Saturday 4th August 2007

3.00pm

Pride Park

This is such a high profile game that is bound to attract some foreign interest for the new Premiership Derby County. While Espanyol only reached 11th in Spain’s La Liga (the top division), they only lost out to Seville on penalties after a 2-2 draw, proof if any that they are a team that are potentially the best in Europe.

To keep tensions high, we will also be facing some local rivals in the pre-season friendly campaign against the likes of Ilkeston Town, Stafford Rangers, Macclesfield Town and Crewe Alexandra. A clash with Nottingham Forest is also on the cards but still needs confirming. All this PLUS a tour of Italy should get the Derby boys ready for an intense year ahead in the Premiership.

Unfortunately, due to copyright issues, we are not allowed to publish fixtures (thanks FA!) – it costs £4000 for a licence to document any football fixtures, and thats just for a year. Whether this is a ploy just for the FA to make more money out of the not-so-free Internet is yet to be seen. In the mean time, maybe you should just go on over to the BBC for your fix.

Obviously, there has been much news for Derby County since the last update:

1. Derby finished third in the table, missing out on automatic promotion, having to resort to a tense Playoff battle with Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton.
2. Winning the first leg away at Southampton 2-1.
3. Confirming a Playoff Final place on penalties after Southampton levelled the score 4-4 in the home game.
4. Playing a tough but exhilarating Playoff Final at the new Wembley, beating West Brom 1-0 to win promotion to the Premiership and approximately £60 million in Sky TV and sponsorships deals
5. Not knowing who will be playing or managing the Premiership Derby County team
6. Launching a new club badge, with a touch of old and new in there, to be included on all the new Adidas merchandise coming our way over the Summer

There will also be a few changes to the website over the coming months to reflect the change for the team. We have several plans for the website such as creating a dedicated discussion forum (hopefully moving all those in conversation on the Ram Chants page somewhere a little more appropriate), loads of new content and hopefully (if time allows) a fresh new look to the site.

We are also looking for anyone who is interested in writing for the website. This is purely a voluntary position at the moment but, if revenue picks up on adverts, there will be rewards available. The kind of content we are looking for includes:

• Derby County match reviews
• Derby County team news
• football related articles
• Anything else you feel is relevant to Derby County

If you are interested in becoming an author on this website, please get in contact, either by leaving a comment below or emailing admin (at) super rams (dot) com.

Finally, we would just like to congratulate Derby County for the promotion to the Premiership. It took a lot of determination and solid playing to achieve this momentous occasion and they deserve all the glory they have got. Enjoy the Summer break lads and prove to all those cynics out there that we aren’t in the Premiership for just the year.

Rams win to stretch their lead at the top (Derby Evening Telegraph)

Rams win to top league again (Derby Evening Telegraph)