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.

The outlook for Derby’s first visit to the Cardiff City stadium seemed bright.  The victory against Bristol City on Saturday brought a welcoming halt to Derby’s concerning run of defeats.  Whilst the Rams looked wasteful in the final third, the centre half pairing of Shaun Barker and Dean Leacock seemed solid, bringing a defensive confidence so evidently absent in the previous two seasons.  Add to that Cardiff City’s recent poor form and lack of goals from striker Michael Chopra and Derby fans would have been forgiven for perhaps expecting a rare haul of 3 points on the road.

It wasn’t long before the newfound optimism was cruelly brought back to reality, as Derby began poorly.  The Derby back four played a poorly timed offside trap and Peter Whittingham took advantage, stroking the ball home from just a few yards out.  Things soon went from bad to worse, as Derby’s promising central defensive partnership was broken as Dean Leacock was replaced on the 30^th minute with a tight hamstring.  Jay McEveley, Leacock’s replacement, suffered a baptism of fire as Michael Chopra put the Bluebirds up by 2 soon after, slotting in after a sumptuous ball from wide left.

As the second half began Derby looked set to mount a come back; Rob Hulse pulling one back against the run of play.  The Rams striker beat Mark Hudson to a cross and toe-poked the ball past Cardiff keeper Marshall.  The comeback was quickly quashed as Derby capitulated under the constant pressure of Cardiff striker Michael Chopra.  Chopra made it 3-1 soon after, dashing through a gaping hole in Derby’s defence to squeeze the ball home.  Cardiff fans were still celebrating when Chopra completed his hatrick, benefitting off some woeful marking from Shaun Barker and exquisitely chipping the ball over Bywater.  Dean Moxey was to blame for the fifth; the promising youngster looked completely out of sorts throughout the entire match and his poor marking lead to Chris Burke inflicting further embarrassment.  Chopra still hadn’t finished though, he added his fourth late on.  Jay McEveley was at fault this time, Chopra turning the Derby defender unchallenged and finishing with utmost poise.

Nigel Clough recently appeared on Radio Derby on the back of Derby’s run of 4 defeats.  Press and fans alike were quick to lavish Clough with praise, highlighting his defiant approach and bravery in answering the calls of his critics, an attribute many managers notably lack.  The Bristol City result seemed to finally signal that Derby had turned the proverbial corner and all seemed rosy in the Derby camp.  This proved to be short lived and both the embarrassing score line and appalling performance left Derby fans humiliated.  Whilst perhaps the Middlesbrough defeat at home to West Brom stands to be spare Derby’s blushes for the worst defeat in this championship season so far, fans may feel increasingly apprehensive as Derby hang precariously above the gaping jaws of the relegation zone.  Many level headed fans will be keen to stress composure and perspective, but that is a difficult skill sect to possess given the similarity of manner of this defeat and the painful memories of our last ill fated Premier League season.  Whilst fans calling for Nigel’s head will remain firmly in the minority for the time being, Nigel’s injury ravaged Derby side need to put on a resolute display at home on Saturday, against high fliers Sheffield Wednesday, to silence the ever-growing doubters.

Derby went into the clash at Selhurst Park in difficult circumstances, following 3 defeats on the bounce, none more harrowing than the 3-2 defeat to Championship strugglers Barnsley on Tuesday night.  Whilst a few disgruntled Derby fans began to mount some pressure on Nigel Clough, this seemed to be relieved midweek as the club pulled off a loan move coup bringing in Everton and England Under 21 striker James Vaughan until the New Year.  In addition to the athletic striker, Derby’s line up was bolstered by a return to fitness for centre half Dean Leacock, with Shaun Barker returning to the bench.

Derby started the first half brightly, Vaughan shooting over from just inside the penalty area and then forcing the first real opening from a free kick.  Gary Teale stepped up from close to the left hand byline and curled in a ferocious effort that was tipped round the post by Palace keeper Julian Speroni.  The free-kick was given for an intriguing hand ball outside the box by Speroni which only resulted, rather peculiarly, in a yellow card.

Crystal Palace broke the deadlock following the break after the Rams conceded a sloppy goal.  The Rams struggled to deal with a long throw into the box, Sean Derry heading the ball past a Derby defence fast asleep and Darren Ambrose applied the finish.  Things went from bad to worse as Palace almost made it two when Johannes Ertl hit the crossbar with a fine header and central pairing Addison and Leacock were forced off with injury.  Late on Teale forced a smart save from Speroni, Hulse shot wide and there was a penalty shout but Derby ended pointless. Despite the defeat Nigel Clough was pleased with the overall performance and effort applied and notably aggrieved by the penalty shouts.

The defeat to Crystal Palace brings the loss streak to a total of 4, with 3 to opposition expected to be Championship strugglers.  With this and the increasingly worrying injury list, the pressure mounts on Nigel Clough as the number of impatient Derby County fans begins to grow.  However, it is essential to maintain a sense of perspective and keep the faith in Clough.  He achieved the objective of safety last season and is in the infancy of his proper reign as manager.  There are many more points still to play for and 3 against Bristol City must be every Derby fans pressing concern, not the position of Clough.

Derby came into this game off the back of two disappointing defeats; a home game against bottom of the table Barnsley should have been the perfect antidote.  Instead the Rams found themselves struggling to contain this supposedly weaker opposition.

The game started brightly for the Rams, as the momentum of the game swung in their favour. Rob Hulse twice came close to putting the Rams ahead; firstly with a shot deflected wide behind the goal, and then an agonisingly close cross from Commons which Hulse failed to make contact with.

On the 27^th minute Hulse was rewarded for his work; an inch perfect cross from Lee Croft out wide on the wing found the head of the charging Hulse just inside the six-yard box, he couldn’t miss.

Unfortunately for the Rams this marked the high point of the evening. Just 10 minutes later the visitors were level; a superb strike from Hammill from 20 yards curled past the finger tips of a helpless Bywater and into the Derby net.

No fan from any club can bemoan the opposition a goal of such high class as Hammill’s, however Barnsley’s second of the game was lamented from all sectors of the Pride Park crowd.  Just short of the hour mark Commons was fouled in the Barnsley half, the Derby players expecting a free kick all stopped in their tracks; instead the referee waived play on allowing Barnsley to break. The move was finished by Andy Gray’s calm finish past Bywater after being fed in by Emil Hallfredsson.

The game ended in a flurry of goals; with eight minutes injury time added the Rams were pushing hard for an equaliser, this however left them heavily exposed at the back. With little way of a challenge Barnsley sub   managed exactly this and found himself in the Derby box with just Bywater to beat, easily rounding the Derby keeper he slid the ball coolly into the net to make it three for the night and surely bag up three points to take back to Yorkshire.

The Rams weren’t yet finished and did manage to pull one back to save some face.  Defender Shaun Barker jumped highest to meet Teale’s corner.

All in all this was yet another disappointing result for the Rams, and whilst the standard of football is infinitely higher than this time last year they need to begin to ground out some positive results, beginning in South London on Saturday.

Derby fans entered the international break downbeat following the 3-2  defeat to local rivals Nottingham Forest and the disconcerting aftermath to which both sides have been duly fined.  Following a relatively comfortable start to the season, including a number of relegation candidates, Derby faced their sternest test of the season in the form of defeated playoff contenders Sheffield United.  Summer signing Shaun Barker replaced the quietly impressive Jake Buxton at centre-back whilst midfield pair Paul Green and Lee Croft came in for Tottenham loanee Jake Livermore and under-fire Kris Commons.

Sheffield United dominated the opening stages.  Keith Tracey, on loan from Premier League side Blackburn Rovers, looked very threatening as he fashioned a number of chances, one inches away from Bywater’s left post.  The Blades pressure culminated mid way through the first half as ex-Chesterfield striker Jamie Ward benefitted from some poor defending from Addison, forcing a smart save from Bywater.  The ball rebounded to the feet of Darius Henderson who made no mistake from just outside the 6 yard box.  The Blades celebrations were cut short as a seemingly dubious offside was called and the goal was chalked off.

Whilst the Blades had dominated play in the first half it was Derby who started the better in the second.  Gary Teale continued his notable form, playing a key role in a number of Derby chances.  Hulse failed to convert two headed opportunities whilst Teale himself hit the woodwork with a fortunate cross-come-shot.  The introduction of Kris Commons in the 72nd minute maintained the Derby momentum as the Scottish international put some threatening balls into the box.  Despite all the Derby promise it was the Blades who ended the match victorious as Kilgallon looped a header in from a Keith Treacy free kick, Barker guilty of a needless tackle close the Rams corner flag.  Jamie Ward would have doubled their lead in injury time had Bywater not superbly saved the fierce strike.

Nigel Clough was quick to highlight Shaun Barker (on his first league start) for criticism for lashing out at Stephen Quinn close to the corner flag.  Whilst Clough may feel aggrieved by the manner of the defeat and especially the goal, Derby fans maybe feeling obliged to question the team’s intentions given the 4-5-1 formation being employed by Clough at Pride Park.  The return of Chris Porter in the Winter will hopefully see a turn to more attacking styles of play, especially as the Rams seemed fixated with the long ball to Hulse.  Not only was this out of sorts for the Clough side but notably fruitless against the central partnership of Morgan and Kilgallon.

Despite a run of two losses and the first defeat at home this season, Derby fans still have reason for optimism as Dean Leacock and Steve Davies edge closer to full fitness.  The Derby faithful will expect a full 3 points come Tuesday evening as Derby face bottom club Barnsley at Pride Park.

There are few matches in the modern game that are anticipated with such intensity by the fans as the East Midland’s Derby.  This encounter was no exception.

The game got off to an electric start, unfortunately for the Rams it was more of an electric shock.  With in a minute of kick off Forest’s Polish midfielder Radolsaw Majewski scored an absolute peach of goal from the edge of the box.

With any game plan completely out of the window, Derby were understandably shaky; and in a ‘lesser’ game Gary Teale would have been expected to make the most of all opportunities; but instead when Stephen Pearson played the Scot through Teale was unable to bury the ball, and instead scuffed his shot wide.

The day got worse for the Rams just before the half hour mark, as a Cohen free-kick curled into the box was met by the head of Rob Hulse and found its way into the back of the Derby net.

Derby were now no worse off than in last seasons F.A. Cup clash; so time for a comeback, right? Well almost.  Hulse eager to cancel out his earlier mistake did find the back of the Forest net, but the goal was harshly ruled out after it was judged that Hulse had pushed Wes Morgan as he went for the ball.

A poor half time result for the Rams quickly turned into a complete disaster when just minutes before the break Kris Commons capped his poor performance against his old club, by losing the ball to ex-Ram Dexter Blackstock.  Blackstock timed a perfect pass through the Derby defence into the path of the charging Tyson who rounded Bywater to finish with embarrassing ease.  The Derby defence were left watching helplessly after the offside trap had suffered complete and utter breakdown.

Thankfully the Rams side which appeared after the half time break had completely ridden itself of its earlier jitters; Croft came on to replace the poor Commons and Derby looked much better for the change.

It took just six minutes for the Rams to get back into the game.  Miles Addison attempted a bicycle kick off Jake Buxton’s flick on, rather than fly spectacularly into the Forest net the ball took a huge deflection off Wes Morgan and rolled past the helpless Lee Camp.  Whilst not the most spectacular goal, it introduce the whiff of a comeback into the air and the atmosphere within the ground changed accordingly.

Just over ten minutes later and the Rams had pulled back another one. The Forest defence failed to deal with Lee Croft’s cross in a timely manner and the ball fell to perfectly positioned Livermore whose low shot deflected off Murphey to give the Spurs loanee his first Rams goal.

The final half hour was fought like any self respecting local rivalry should be.  Derby continued to push ferociously for the equaliser and even brought veteran striker Paul Dickov out for his Derby debut, but even he could not grab that elusive goal.

The game itself ended in disarray when firstly Savage and Majewski ended up in a heap on the ground, whilst the pair helped each other up, argy bargy ensued as Savage was shoved by several Forset players.  Shenanigans continued after the final whistle as Derby players reacted to Nathan Tyson’s gloating directly in front of the travelling Derby masses.

The Carling Cup was good to Derby County fans last season.  The impressive victory against Premier League Stoke and first leg triumph over Manchester United, the then European Champions, was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the football calendar.  Nigel Clough recognised this and assured Derby County fans that the strongest side possible would be fielded, but an injury to Steve Davies early on and an international call up to Kris Commons left Derby’s frontline worryingly thin.

Gary Teale deputised as the lone striker and started brightly, scoring in the 11th minute following a well-crafted cutback from Lee Croft.  However, that goal proved to be the peak for Derby. Teale struggled to cope with Rotherham’s physicality and cut an isolated figure up front.  Rotherham’s momentum built up as the first half drew on and they were rewarded with an equaliser as Paul Warne struck home on the stroke of half time.  The Derby defence failed to clear a Rotherham long ball by Jamie Green and journeyman Warne intuitively poached his second goal of the season.  Nigel Clough singled out centre back Miles Addison for criticism citing his lack of aerial prowess.

Things went from bad to worse in the second half as Kevin Ellison added the final touch to a fast Rotherham break, Warne capping off his impressive display with an assist.  Derby responded with a barrage of shots but Rotherham survived the onslaught with some resolute defending.   Dean Moxey fired just inches wide seconds before the final whistle.

Defeat to the league 2 side brings Derby crashing back to reality following the performance against Peterborough.  A series of sloppy mistakes at the back and an injury prone frontline leaves a sour taste of familiarity.  One can only hope the Rams can improve away to Scunthorpe on Saturday or else I feel another season of lower table struggle may be looming.