Forest Green Rovers 3 Derby County 4

With Derby County making excellent progress in the less popular Carling Cup - facing Manchester United in the semi-final later in the week - any success in the FA Cup was just the icing on the cake. Nonetheless, facing non-league Forest Green shouldn’t have been a huge problem.

Unfortunately, things didn’t start out as well as expected.

Forest Green’s Jonathan Smith and Alex Lawless managed to give the home side a two goal lead within 20 minutes, indicating early signs of a shock win for the underdogs.

It took until the 40th minute for Derby to retaliate when Rob Hulse headed in Kris Commons‘ cross as well as a leveller from Martin Albrechtsen before the half time whistle.

The second half was just as exciting, if a little tense.

Forest Green took another lead when Paul Stonehurst took them ahead again in the 72nd minute but, thankfully, it only four minutes for Derby’s Paul Green to equalise again.

It wasn’t until the dying 87th minute when Steve Davies was rewarded a penalty which he quickly converted past Darren Jones, taking Derby into the 4th round of the FA Cup.

Let’s hope Derby don’t play such a stressful game against Man Utd in the week - this could kill some Derby fans!

Tags

• 2008/9
• alex lawless
• away
• darren jones
• fa cup
• forest green rovers
• jonathan smith
• kris commons
• martin albrechtsen
• paul green
• paul stonehurst
• rob hulse
• steve davies
• win

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After another beating for Derby from Ipswich at the weekend, it was obviously too much for then manager Paul Jewell as he has thrown in the towel and resigned from his post.

Jewell witnessed his side’s defeat after heading the team in the Premiership and Championship for 50 games. With only seven wins from that total, you can understand why Jewell was not feeling to comfortable with his performance as a manager but it just goes to show what little confidence he had in Derby’s ability.

Surely the fact he’s taken the side to a semi-final clash with Manchester United in the FA Cup this season is reason enough to stand by the team.

But obviously, it isn’t. The man has shown his true colours and now leaves Derby in the hands of caretaker boss Chris Hutchings.

There is speculation of four potential replacements for Mr Jewell including Hutchings:

• Burton Albion boss and son of Brian, Nigel Clough
• Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson
• Wrexham boss Dean Saunders

Currently, the favourite is Nigel Clough who is sure to be keen to follow his father’s legacy at Derby. He has proved his ability as a calm, influential manager at Burton who are currently 13 points clear at the top of Blue Square Premier league and fits the Board’s requirements according to reports.

An announcement is likely to be made by the end of the week so fingers crossed the FA Cup clash against Man Utd has positive results before the return leg.

Tags

• 2008/9
• burton albion
• chris hutchings
• darren ferguson
• dean saunders
• nigel clough
• paul jewell
• peterborough
• resignation
• wrexham

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Derby County 0 Ipswich Town 1

Derby’s performance in December has been quite ropey having only beaten Watford 1-0 at home but losing most our away games so a game on home turf was in much need, hopefully giving the Rams some much needed Pride Park support against Ipswich.

Unfortunately, the game didn’t start too well.

Within 9 minutes, Nathan Ellington went off with an injury to his leg forcing Paul Jewell to replace him with Luke Varney.

Things went from bad to worse just seven minutes later when Ipswich’s Jonathan Walters managed to head in a goal for the Tractor Boys giving Ipswich the only goal of the game.

There were many long range attempts from Derby with Miles Addison, Jordan Stewart and Kris Commons all taking shots at Richard Wright but none were good enough to meet the back of the net.

This was Paul Jewell’s 50th league game as manager at Derby and probably not what he was hoping for at such a milestone. Speculation of Jewell leaving the club will really hit Derby hard with such big games coming up in the Carling Cup and FA Cup and while we’re sitting so low in the Championship table. Any manager who gives up at this stage is just not up to the job.

Here’s hoping it’s just rumours…

Tags

• 2008/9
• Championship
• home
• ipswich town
• jonathan walters
• jordan stewart
• kris commons
• loss
• luke varney
• miles addison
• nathan ellington
• paul jewell

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Preston NE 2 Derby County 0

Beating Watford last weekend was a great boost to Derby after a string of successive draws home and away (with the occasional loss thrown in the mix as well). Travelling to Preston was bound to be a difficult game for us but Derby weren’t giving up that easily.

The first half was quite a tense battle. Derby showed good determination although there were few opportunities to up the ante from away goals. Preston were also a strong side who looked extremely comfortable.

It was in the 30th minute when Sean St Ledger knocked in a goal for Preston, giving the home side the lead.

Plenty of opportunities arose for Derby with shots from Paul Green, Kris Commons and Rob Hulse challenging Preston keeper Andy Lonergan but nothing was strong enough to beat him.

Jon Parkin was the man to hit the nail in the coffin for Derby after a smash from 18 yards gave the home side two goals over Derby and, in the end, all three points.

Tags

• 2008/9
• andy lonergan
• away
• Championship
• jon parkin
• kris commons
• loss
• paul green
• preston
• preston northend
• rob hulse
• sean st ledger

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Derby County 1 Watford 0

After the drama at Charlton earlier in the week, Derby were keen to restore some confidence on home turf with a few wins. It wasn’t going to a stroll in the park with Watford but they certainly were ready to give it a try.

Unfortunately, both teams were deadlocked for the majority of the game. Derby and Watford were creating mediocre chances but neither team were capable of hitting the back of the net.

It was only after 83 minutes when Rob Hulse managed to connect with Nacer Barazite’s cross, heading in his seventh goal of the season.

After a week of sickness and wary season previous, it was a huge boost for Derby’s striker and Hulse will certainly be working hard to regain his regular position up front after today’s game.

Tags

• 2008/9
• Championship
• home
• nacer barazite
• rob hulse
• watford
• win

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Charlton Athletic 2 Derby County 2

Charlton Athletic have had quite a bad run of late without a win at home in 13 games and were determined to at least get a point out of today’s game, if not all three. But Derby were also willing to make that quite difficult.

It was Charlton striker Andy Gray who commenced scoring with a neat goal in the 34th minute and that was all to be seen in the first hour.

After 64 minutes though, Jose Vitor Semedo couldn’t help but handball in the box giving Nathan Ellington the opportunity to take Derby level. As expected, he converted the penalty.

It wasn’t long before Charlton’s Martin Waghorn gave the home side another lead when he whacked in another goal after just two minutes.

Derby looked to have been beaten with the final whistle approaching but Mr Ellington grabbed a late 94th minute opportunity to take the scores level, snatching a point from Charlton and another point to Derby’s campaign.

Tags

• 2008/9
• andy gray
• away
• Championship
• charlton athletic
• draw
• jose vitor semedo
• martin waghorn
• nathan ellington

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