Derby last played West Brom in ‘that’ game at Wembley; since then both teams have had spells in the top league and are now just about in the same position as three years ago. The Baggies came into today’s game as hot favourites, once again challenging for promotion, but the Super Rams proved that they should never be underestimated on home turf.

This scintillating tie began at ferocious pace. The Rams burst out of the blocks keen to make an early mark; a low cross from Dean Moxey caused Scott Carson a headache as Hulse charged down his spillage. Unfortunately the Derby man was unable get there in time, but the tone had been set for the game.

West Brom took on Derby’s initiative and began to show just why they were challenging at the right half of the table. Some of the football they played was exquisite and easily the best seen at Pride park this season. It was however not enough to fluster the Rams who matched everything West Brom threw at them with well timed tackles and blocks.

The game took a testy turn on the half hour mark when Savage brought down Dorrans in a 50:50 challenge, the WBA youngster then appeared to kick out at Savage whilst still on the ground. All hell let loose. In a ruckus involving most players on the pitch the referee came perilously close to losing control of the game, his failure to spot the Dorrans kick was to prove one of many poor decisions made against both sides today.

Spurred on by the injustice Derby surged forward with Teale volleying the ball wide and then threatening again almost immediately after. The Scottish international fired a free kick towards goal, but was thwarted by a deflection and Carson’s acrobatics as he dived to push the ball over the bar.

Derby’s efforts were rewarded just shy of half time as the fantastic Dickov beat his man to get a shot in; the ball deflected off Olsson looping upwards off the underside of the bar and into the back of the net.

The second half continued in a similar end-to-end fashion. Derby came close to doubling their lead on the hour mark when the unusually anonymous Rob Hulse held the ball up well in the WBA box and fired a shot in on goal only to see it blocked by a West Brom defender.

West Brom desperate to take something home seemed to change up a gear as they began to bombard Derby with constant waves of attack. The encouragement from the Baggie’s travelling support intensified with 15 minutes to go when the appearance of former Villa man Lee Hendrie sent them into the fermenting rage of a rabid mongrel.

After holding on for so long the Rams finally relented with just 8 minutes on the clock; Chris Brunt played a deft ball across the six-yard box into the path of Simon Cox who deflected the ball into the net with his arm. Derby were furious, but the goal stood.

DJ Cambell replaced fellow Leicester loanee Dickov to make his debut in black and white. The pacey striker did well to maintain possession and almost created a winner as he set up Hulse from 18 yards. Campbell impressed again as a fought to keep the ball in play deep in West Brom’s half, but his efforts were ill rewarded as West Brom immediately broke and took the lead through a well crafted shot from Dorrans. Thousands of Pride Park hearts sank, and the shuffle towards exits began with immediate effect. As cries of ‘Hendrie, Hendrie what’s the score?’ rang out from the South Stand the man himself raced down field to latch onto long ball to set up DJ Campbell who headed Derby into Elysium.

BEAUTIFUL

Derby have struggled away from home so much this season that surely it’s time to reach for the hyoscine. The Rams travelled to South Wales on a blowy, dank mid-November evening, to play the inform team of the Championship. Derby’s tactics were clear from the off; stifle the opposition. The limp, lifeless attack from the Rams summed up their efforts and it was a small miracle that the damage was limited to a single goal.

Swansea applied pressure on Derby right from kickoff. The positive football on display from the Swans was almost rewarded after just eight minutes; Nathan Dyer capitalised on a horrible backpass from Gary Teale by latching onto the ball and rounding Bywater only to hit the post from the narrow angle he had left to play with.

Swansea came perilously close again on the half hour mark; only Bywater’s excellent low dive could stop Craig Beattie’s rocket shot from the edge of the box.

The second half continued much the same with Derby still playing the role of a saturated sandbag holding up against an oncoming flood; a breach was inevitable, it was just a matter of when. In light of this Derby actually defended well with Barker making some particularly heroic blocks to stop Pratley, Beattie and co.

Swansea finally broke their duck just nine minutes from time. Joe Allen spotted Fede Bessone on a surging run, leaving the Argentinian with task of finding the net; his thundering shot shuddered off the underside of the crossbar beating Bywater and crashing into the net.

Derby may count themselves unlucky to have held on for so long only to concede at the death, but any game plan that sees the Rams muster just a single shot on goal needs to be held up for scrutiny. The bottom line is that the Rams appear to lack any confidence when away from the Pride Park cauldron and need to see drastic improvements if they are to move up the league table.

Derby travelled to Portman Road with high hopes; after all despite Derby’s atrocious away form of late, Roy Keane’s Tractor Boys were yet to make a notch on the victory post.

Derby however proved that once again when it comes to ‘curse’ breaking the Rams are kings.  Time and time again teams desperately in need of a win need only a fixture against derby to break their duck.

The injury crisis continues to plague the club, this time claiming new victim Rob Hulse, who was ruled out of the squad by a nasty stomach bug; this meant a lone role for veteran striker Paul Dickov upfront.

Derby dominated the first half; making their intentions known early on. Livermore and Dickov linked up within the first few minutes, only for Dickov to fire into the side netting. Derby’s best chance of the half came courtesy of Robbie Savage, who’s rocket shot from distance forcing Portsmouth loanee Begovic to parry it away.

The Ipswich attack was led by former Ram and recently rumoured Clough target Jon Stead; the striker held the ball up well but despite several attempts failed to severely challenge Bywater.

The Rams continued their dominance after the break and other than a superb stop from Bywater to push away Bruce’s header were troubled little.

In true Derby style it was typical defensive errors from the Rams’ that cost them the game in the 66^th minute.  Liam Rosenior crossed a delicious hanging ball from deep on the right; whilst Derby’s defence watched the ball’s trajectory they left Wright clear to leap meeting the ball with a thunderous header that Bywater despite making contact was unable to stop from pounding the back of the net.

There is little doubt that Derby’s performance at Portman Road was a marked improvement over recent games, and the Rams can count themselves unlucky not to have left Suffolk with at least a point. With less than a week until a home tie against Coventry Derby will hope that key players continue to return from the medical room and make as big an impact as Stephen Pearson did today.

Wear it white night turned into a murky shade of grey as Derby threw away a 2-0 lead in emphatic style with the BBC cameras broadcasting every moment of the embarrassment to the nation.

Derby actually started brighter of the two sides, and other than an early scare courtesy of Jay Simpson they were deserved of the lead gained on the ninth minute. A quick thinking Robbie Savage spotted veteran striker Paul Dickov unmarked in the box; a quickly taken free kick and a well placed shot later the ball was firmly in the back of the net.

As the game opened up both sides created chances in an end to end battle that served perfectly as an advertisement for Championship level football.  Things got even better for the Rams on 36 minutes; Paul Dickov showed his experience winning a free kick on the edge of the Rangers’ box. Savage stepped up to curl a beautifully taken free kick into Cerny’s top corner; they don’t get much better than that!

Unfortunately this was the peak of the game, so far as the Rams were concerned. The Rangers’ fight back began almost instantly; an extremely soft free kick awarded 25 yards out was converted with a low drive from Tarrabt, with a curl taking the ball round the Derby wall out beyond the post before tucking just into the lower corner of Bywater’s goal.  The free kick whilst impressive raised several questions about the positioning of Derby’s wall and whether such a feat should have been allowed to happen in the first place.

QPR burst out of the blocks after the break, equalising in less than two minutes. The ever impressive Routledge controlled the ball at the back post to set up Mahon to fire home from close range.

Derby were stunned and it showed in their play. Dickov had dropped back into midfield and as a result the Rams appeared impotent in attack. By the hour mark the Rams were behind.

Davies and Pearson returned to action for the Rams, and did have some immediate effect. Their added pace and enthusiasm threatened to turn a limp second half from Derby into a contest, but fate didn’t prevail. Instead the Rams found themselves 4-2 down in the final minute of the game. A QPR penalty was converted by Hungarian striker Ákos Buzsáky, from here there was no come back for the Rams.

As the white T’shirts given out to fans before the match rained down onto the pitch like rotten tomatoes, the Rams were left wondering where it all went wrong.

To paraphrase BBC Five Live rather succinct summary of the game ‘Derby were so poor, it was unreal’. Such a response may not have been unexpected given Derby’s recent away form; but the Rams actually held the upper hand against Middlesbrough in the form stakes.

At no point during the ninety minutes of ‘football’ on show did Derby appear to be comfortable. The first scare came after four minutes when if it wasn’t for a block from Shaun Barker then the Rams would have almost certainly been trailing.

The current injury crisis is by far the biggest factor in Derby’s season so far; the crisis was deepened just 12 minutes in to the game as Kris Commons limped off with a recurrence of his hamstring injury. As if that wasn’t penance enough Derby soon lost Jay McEveley to a fractured cheek bone as well, the Scot getting caught during a passionate tackle.

With two enforced changes made in less than 20 minutes it is hardly surprising that the Rams looked rattled. A little over a minute later and the price had been paid. Adam Johnson by far the best man on the pitch made a little run into the Derby box, Barker caught flat-footed brought the England U21 international down leaving the referee with little choice but to award the resulting spot kick. Johnson fired his penalty straight down the middle of goal to get the game off the mark.

It took until the hour mark before either side made any other move of significance. Once again this move came from Adam Johnson, drifting in from the wing the ‘boro midfielder let fly from the edge of the box, the sweet ball flew past Bywater curling nicely into the far corner of the net.

For Derby Dickov came closest from a 30yard free kick and Teale also had a shot blocked, but in any other game these attempts would rarely garner a mention.

Derby’s away form is currently little short of abysmal, if this run continues then injury crisis or not difficult questions will have to be asked.

Sheffield Wednesday probably fancied their chances upon their visit to Pride Park; the Rams had only managed to muster up three points from the previous six games, a run of form that can only be described as abysmal. Football however is an unpredictable game and despite capitulating midweek at Cardiff the Rams side which turned out today were a formidable force that returned an emphatic victory against their South Yorkshire visitors.

Derby’s side still ravaged by the injury plague affecting the club saw two changes from the side defeated so heavily at Cardiff; veteran striker Paul Dickov made his first start for the club, and Jay McEveley returned to action as a make shift centre back.

The Rams looked sharp right from the off, playing smart effective football. Rob Hulse came close twice within the first ten minutes; raging past the offside trap latching onto the through ball Livermore only to see Darren Purse get back in time to remove the danger, and then a header that with some more power may well have had the ex-Ram Lee Grant beaten in the Owl’s goal.

Derby’s positive play was rewarded on the 17^th minute. Paul Dickov showed his experience in the Wednesday box by shrugging off his marker with a deft turn before crossing to the unmarked Croft whose volley crashed off the underside of the bar and into the net.

Derby should have been two up just minutes later as Dean Moxey beat the defence only to fire his shot wide of far post.

The Rams looked confident going forward but also seemed able to soak up the Wednesday pressure at the back; surviving several attacks and a goal mouth scramble which ultimately resulted James O’Connor firing wide.

Derby doubled their lead just after the hour mark with an excellent shot from the charging Jay McEveley.  The centre back surprised everybody as he sprinted the length of the pitch to latch onto a ball from Lee Croft on the edge of the Wednesday box.

Victory was sealed by an injury time penalty converted by Rob Hulse; the Derby striker had been bundled down inside the box by Wood leaving the referee with no choice but to award a penalty to the Rams.

The importance of this win cannot be underestimated; as well putting the ghosts of recent weeks to bed, it sent the Rams into the international break on a high. Derby return to action in two weeks with a crunch tie at the Crisp Bowl.

It took Derby late into injury time to salvage a point from this encounter with Burnley in front of a sundrenched Pride Park.

The first half was a testy affair with end to end football. Gary Teale twice came close for the Rams, once with a long range effort forcing Brian Jensen into a diving save in the bottom left reaches of his goal, and secondly an attempt from the edge of the box which was also saved well by Jensen although this time at a more comfortable height.

Burnley came closest through a Clarke Carlisle header that rebounded off the cross bar eventually finding its way out to Rhys Williams whose powerful shot was spectacularly pushed over the bar by Bywater. 

The second half was decidedly less frantic than the first, but despite the rams having the majority of the better play during its early periods it was Burnley who took the lead through Chris Mcann just before the hour mark.  In a calamitous defensive error Bywater and Albrechtsen collided whilst going for the same ball, which in turn bobbled to the Claret man who simply rolled it into the empty net. 

From this point onwards it seemed that Derby had little left in them, and were settling for the defeat. The appearance of Tito Villa with 15 minutes left on the clock offered some hope as he injected some energy back into the Derby performance, but any attacks were proving to be less than fruitful. 

And so came injury time; thousands of the Rams faithful were already pouring out of Pride Park, when seemingly out of nowhere Villa controlled the ball on the edge of the area laying off to Teale whose tasty ball across the box was met by the diving header of Captain Connolly. 

Whilst a home draw may often seem like a particularly unremarkable result, a point snatched from the jaws of defeat tasted as sweet as any victory for many a Derby fan today.

If you’ve not yet heard of Twitter, it is another social network, similar to Facebook, but with a different angle – it is all about your status. Twitter asks the question what are you doing now? and you respond, similar to the status feature of Facebook, with something like is writing on superrams.com.

One fundamental difference with Twitter though is the fact it is platform-independent – that is you can use the service from whatever device you prefer. You can use Twitter via SMS on your mobile, there is a mobile version of the website, you can even get it interacting with your IM client using the Jabber protocol (if you’ve got a Gmail account, that is also Jabber-enabed). Some nice developers from around the world have also created small applications to sit on your computer that are solely there for interacting with Twitter.

So there’s no denying the fact Twitter is a useful application but what the hell has all this got to do with Super Rams? Well, how about getting Derby County news direct to your mobile, as it happens, and all for free? That sounds good right? It’s quite easy to do – just follow these instructions:

1. Sign up on Twitter using the relatively simple registration form
2. Make sure you add your mobile details to your devices
3. Pop on over to twitter.com/derbycounty and hit the Follow button
4. Hit the Device Updates link and check the Device Buttons On radio button
5. That’s it. Every time the news is updated on the BBC or Evening Telegraph, you will get a SMS alert.

Currently, you get an allowance of 250 text message updates a month but that should be plenty for the news alerts from Derby County.

Go and sign up – its free so what have you got to lose?

Update: news from the official Derby County website is now included in the updates thanks to some magic by Dapper.