Jonathan Walters heads in for Ipswich at Derby

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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…

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Ellington rescues a point for Derby at Charlton

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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.

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Derby beat Stoke in League Cup Quarter Final

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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.

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Derby progress to Carling Cup quarters by beating Leeds

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Derby County 2 Leeds United 1

Derby’s Carling Cup campaign has gone from strength to strength this season - getting to the 4th round was their best performance in the League Cup since 1998. So, facing Leeds United on home turf was bound to be an intense game.

Thankfully, Emanuel Villa gave Derby an early lead in the 6th minute sending in a beautiful left-foot shot after beating Lubomir Michalik.

Nathan Ellington doubled Derby’s lead 12 minutes later with a simple touch in after Kris Commons did all the hard work beating off Leeds’ defence.

Luciano Becchio managed to head in a consolation goal before the break but that was all Leeds had in them. They dominated the second half but struggled to convert any chances, allowing Derby to qualify for the quarter finals.

The Quarter Final Draw of the Carling Cup will take place during Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports this Saturday 12-1pm GMT.

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Emmanuel Villa hits hat-trick to beat Brighton

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Brighton Hove Albion 1 Derby County 4

Derby’s Carling Cup campaign has gone from strength to strength after a delayed schedule the other month so the long awaited journey to Brighton certainly had high expectations.

After 28 minutes, Emmanuel Villa commenced his show-stopping performance with the opening goal after John Sullivan struggled to hold Przemyslaw Kazmierczak’s cross.

Nathan Ellington followed up with another after 6 minutes, connecting with Dean Leacock’s cross.

Brighton restored some confidence before the break though when Tommy Elphick headed in a consolation goal taking the half-time score to 1-2.

Brighton showed a lot of confidence throughout the second half but struggled to find an equaliser.

Instead, man of the match Emmanuel Villa took Derby 3-1 up in the 73rd minute before sealing the deal 3 minutes from time with a tidy little 6-yarder.

Derby will now host the 4th round tie against Leeds on Tuesday 11th November at Pride Park, intending on progressing to the 5th round for the first time in decades.

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Nathan Ellington earn Derby a deserved away win at Norwich

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Norwich City 1 Derby County 2

After the tense draw at Pride Park against Birmingham in the week, Derby were keen to improve on their five game unbeaten run with their journey across the Norfolk Broads to Delia Smith’s beloved Norwich City.

Rob Hulse opened the scoreline in the 26th minute with a beauty of a header to give Derby the away lead for the first half.

It was Derby’s keeper Roy Carroll who spoon fed the home side an easy opportunity to take scores level when he took down Leroy Lita in the penalty area which Sammy Clingan smoothly knocked in.

Thankfully, Norwich’s David Marshall ran out to the ball far too early, allowing Nathan Ellington to slot the winning goal in an open net.

With two weeks to rest during the World Cup qualifiers, Derby have an ideal position to take the reward of the last six games and build on it before facing Plymouth on the 18th.

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