Patient Rams seal Royals victory

After gaining their first victory of the season on Saturday, the Rams travelled to Berkshire for a midweek fixture at Reading. Derby’s record against the Royals; be it at the Madejski Stadium or their former home of Elm Park is not a pretty one for those making the trip from the East Midlands.

Article by Fred Gough

Reading [0] Derby County [1] - Attendance: 15,697

Last season saw the Rams play against Steve Clarke’s men four times last season and suffered a harrowing defeat against them on the last day of the 2014-2015 season which confirmed that Derby would miss out on the end of season Play-offs despite spending the vast majority of the campaign in the top six.

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Paul Clement like Clarke has earned his stripes of being a head coach via being a number two at Chelsea, and he made three changes to his starting eleven from that which celebrated three points at Deepdale.

Scott Carson and Craig Forsyth both returned for Lee Grant and Stephen Warnock respectively, whereas Jeff Hendrick came in for the only enforced change after Chris Baird’s clash of heads with Joe Garner meant that the Northern Irish utility player would have to sit this fixture out. Chris Martin was also given the captain’s armband, an honour he had donned once in pre-season whilst the head coach was deciding who should lead the team before confirming that Baird would take that responsibility.

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In a cagey opening spell, Reading looked to try and make home advantage count, as they earned two early corners, but neither amounting to much or troubling the goal they were attacking. Derby’s resolute defence has been the biggest turnover from Steve McClaren’s era and once again it foiled the Royals attacking presence with Nick Blackman and Oliver Norwood, the only players to test Carson’s alertness in the opening period of play.

Derby’s Irish international duo Hendrick and Richard Keogh both had good attempts at the other end for the away side, but like new signing Jacob Butterfield unable to open the scoring in the first half.

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Reading’s hat-trick hero from their five star performance over Ipswich Town on Friday night, Orlando Sa turned into the villain of the evening as a reckless off the ball headbutt of Derby defender Jason Shackell meant that the Portuguese summer signing from Legia Warsaw saw a straight red card and the Rams defender only a yellow card in the dying moments before the referee drew the opening half to a close.

Half Time: Reading 0 Derby County 0

Clement’s men knew they had a man advantage for the entire second half, and eventually started to come into the game as Reading’s game plan was starting to waiver as the Royals gambled but failed to attempts came to nothing once more.

With nearly twenty second half minutes to go, a simple passing move, involving Butterfield and captain Chris Martin found Tom Ince in behind the defence who coolly slotted the ball past his former England Under 21 team mate Jonathan Bond to put the Rams ahead and the travelling nearly 1300 supporters into delight.

The Rams patient and calm play was a contrast to Reading’s determination to gain something from the game, Norwood tried another long range attempt before the Rams’ left full back Craig Forsyth broke through and lashed an attempt over the bar from a tight angle.

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The 2006 and 2012 winners of the SkyBet Championship piled forward but Welsh winger / forward Hal Robson-Kanu couldn’t keep a header down and other crosses were defended superbly by the Rams backline to mean that they would return back up North with a second away win within a week and a rare win at Reading.

Full Time: Reading 0 Derby County 1

Paul Clement was quick to praise his team’s efforts for their patient and steady play and was delighted that his side took the incentive with the numerical advantage in the second period and was happy with the defensive organisation of his side.

He like the Rams faithful are hopeful that they are building some momentum after what was a slow start with the four league draws and two defeats that saw August as a stumbling block to the start of this new era at the iPro Stadium and is quick to focus on getting a home victory in front of the Sky Sports cameras against Burnley on Monday night.

I certainly feel that the merit of having a stronger defensive unit and a more conservative workman shift has been a great plus from what I’ve witnessed in the Paul Clement era so far, unlike his predecessor’s led team, Derby seem to be able to be strong and unyielding in their determination to earn themselves points. I do not believe that we shall a Derby County score as many goals as they have in the last two campaigns, however historically a team built upon a rigid set up fares better in their chances of promotion from the second tier to the Premier League. However it is still very early in the season and good that the Rams are starting to find their feet once more.

Teams:

Reading [4-3-3] –Bond, Gunter, Hector, McShane (capt), Obita, Tshibola (y/c – 23 (McCleary – 80), Norwood (y/c – 89), Quinn (Robson-Kanu – 68), Sa (s/o – 45+2 ) & Vydra (Williams – 63) ; Substitutes – Robson-Kanu, McCleary, Piazon, John, Williams, Al-Habsi & Cooper

DCFC [4-3-3] – Carson, Christie, Keogh, Shackell (y/c – 45+3), Forsyth, Hendrick (Bent - 61), Butterfield (Hanson – 75), Johnson (y/c - 61), Ince (Weimann - 84), Martin & Russell; Substitutes – Warnock, Dawkins, Bent, Grant, Weimann, Hanson & Pearce

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