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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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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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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Wolverhampton Wanders 3 Derby County 0

After Saturday’s poor result against Crystal Palace, Derby had to do something to restore their Championship performance. Visiting current leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers probably wasn’t the best opportunity for this but needs must when half way through the season and those hopes are fading.

With Roy Carroll suspended for two weeks, it was Stephen Bywater who had to keep out any shots from Wolves front line. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for his chances to be squandered when Sylvan Ebanks-Blake was given the responsibility of a spot kick which he easily converted for the home side after 2 minutes after an aledged handball from Darren Powell.

Five minutes before the break, Ebanks-Blake struck the post but David Edwards hit the rebound with a fine strike, taking the home side two goals up.

Ebanks-Blake finished his night off with yet another goal, connecting with a cross from Andy Keogh in the 58th minute.

It was a dismal performance from Derby, even if the penalty was a controversial decision. There is no excuse for going three goals down after such a great performance at Stoke last week. Derby need to book their ideas up and concentrate on what matters - the league.

Tags

• 2008/9
• andy keogh
• away
• Championship
• darren powell
• david edwards
• loss
• stephen bywater
• sylvan ebanks-blake
• wolverhampton wanderers
• wolves

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Stoke City 0 Derby County 1

While Derby’s league campaign has had mixed results, the League Cup was a completely different affair. Derby haven’t reached the quarter finals of the league cup in 20 odd years so they had already exceeded expectations. It was now time to step it up a gear against Premiership side, Stoke City - and on away turf as well.

The first half had little to talk about. The only highlight was a disallowed goal from Richard Creswell due to a handball.

Both teams stepped it up a gear after the break though.

Kris Commons and Miles Addison both rattled the woodwork while Stoke’s Ricardo Fuller was denied the other end of the pitch thanks to an amazing save from Roy Carroll.

It was in the fourth minute of injury time when Andy Griffin handballed Przemyslaw Kazmierczak’s cross, forcing referee Rob Styles to reward Derby a penalty. Nathan Ellington accepted duty and smoothly rolled the ball past Stoke’s Steve Simonsen, progressing Derby through to the semi-finals.

Derby haven’t beaten a Premiership team in 25 games since Paul Jewell took the management post, so you can imagine the adilation he was feeling.

Derby are now in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, the furthest they have ever been in the League Cup in 40 years.

Tags

• andy griffin
• away
• carling cup
• kris commons
• league cup
• miles addison
• nathan ellington
• paul jewell
• przemyslaw kazmierczak
• quarter-final
• ricardo fuller
• rob styles
• roy carroll
• steve simonsen
• stoke city
• win

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Burnley 3 Derby County 0

Derby’s away campaign hasn’t been that successful recently. Our home performances have returned good results but both Reading and Ipswich took all three points on our travels. Things had to change at Burnley.

It didn’t take long for Burnley to take the advantage when Kevin McDonald scored a volley in the 6th minute. Not a good start - and it only got worse.

Martin Paterson followed this up nine minutes later connecting with a cross into the box from Chris Eagles. Derby’s defence were left standing in exactly the same position eight minutes later with an identical goal for Paterson, giving Burnley the three goal lead with over an hour left to play.

Derby struggled to find anything though and the scorelines stayed that way until the end.

Derby seriously need to work on their away form. At home, Derby have had some great results but we must break the curse. Maybe we need a new tour bus?

Tags

• 2008/9
• away
• burnley
• Championship
• chris eagles
• kevin mcdonald
• loss
• martin paterson

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