Honesty from the Head Coach after harrowing late goals dent Derby

Billed as the game of the day for pundits to see the top two of the SkyBet Championship lock horns, both Middlesbrough and Derby County knew that there was a lot of pressure mounting upon this fixture and the result would be dictated on who blinked first.

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Article by Fred Gough

Middlesbrough [2] Derby County [0] - Attendance: 32,870

Both sides have steadily being edging their way back to the Premier League after an exile since the late 2000s and then a period of mid-table mediocrity replaced by ambitious chairmen installing former Real Madrid assistants to lead them into the next phase.

The former Spanish central defender and now Middlesbrough head coach Aitor Karanka was relatively unknown to British waters but was assistant to Jose Mourinho at the Bernabeau before his role was taken on by a gifted young English coach – Paul Clement introduced to Los Blancos by Carlo Ancelotti. It would be only a few months later that Karanka arrived on Teeside.

There is no doubt that the Spaniard has revolutionised Boro and made them a formidable side in the Championship, the statistics since his arrival in November 2013 have seen the North East club stubborn to beat especially break down the defensive unit and going into this game they were chasing a record for keeping clean sheets.

Derby reverted back to the starting eleven which had gained their last win away from the iPro Stadium at Ipswich before Christmas, with George Thorne preferred over midweek goal scorer Jeff Hendrick, son of former Middlesbrough midfielder Paul, Tom Ince replaced the Austrian Andreas Weimann and Chris Martin took the armband back from Stephen Warnock replacing the ex-England international Darren Bent.

IMAGE DCFC MEDIA

The early exchanges of possession for both sides showed their frantic and nervous attitudes to the expectations of fans and on lookers however it was clear that the home side had the more ruthless approach to cause devastation in the Derby penalty box.

Uruguayan top scorer Christian Stuani had the first clear chance within the first eight minutes but couldn’t keep his header down, before the Rams’ goalkeeper Lee Grant, determined to put the mistake which lead to Leeds’ first goal on Tuesday night behind him was tested first by Stewart Downing and then Kike.

Versatile player Emilio Nsue surged forward from his right back position to try and break the deadlock but the Derby defence weathered the gale force storm which has punished a lot of the Championship outfits this season.

In reply, the away side created a couple of chances which exposed some vulnerability in the redoubtable pairing of Daniel Ayala and Ben Gibson however the East Midlands side backed by just over 3,000 fans could not convert. Scottish international forwards Chris Martin and Johnny Russell both took some sting out of the Middlesbrough threat but their attempts were ineffectually weak despite the ascendancy was shifting toward towards the away side the half time whistle blew.

Half Time: Middlesbrough 0 Derby County 0

More Middlesbrough pressure grew in the second half, as both deep lying playmaking midfielders Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton tried to grab their name in lights with the opening goal but were prevented by defensive blocks and deflections by the Rams in their electric blue third strip.

As Derby felt they could spring the surprise upon the Teesiders; normally tactically astute head coach Paul Clement tinkered with his attacking set up, by throwing on Weimann for the former Middlesbrough central midfielder Jacob Butterfield however this exposed the susceptibility of the Rams going into the last quarter of an hour.

The clock ticked down and in a lapse of defensive duties the strong Middlesbrough outfit 

came again at their opposition, Clayton found Ghanaian international winger Albert Adomah free in the box and the former Barnet wide man chipped over a sprawling Lee Grant to break the deadlock.

In a quick fire gift from Derby, the hosts doubled their lead as experienced forward David Nugent unselfishly squared it for full back George Friend to strike the ball past Grant.

As much as they challenged to ruin some of the gloss that Middlesbrough had laid over the course of the match, the Rams could not tarnish the joy of the Teesiders.

Full Time: Middlesbrough 2 Derby County 0

In his post match interviews, Paul Clement described the performance as disappointing for his side but determined to analyse where mistakes were made and owned up to his own unusual blunder in the tactical change made in the final quarter.

All associated with Derby County felt dejected as they left the Riverside Stadium with Middlesbrough now holding a four point and game in hand advantage over them as 2016 starts.

The Rams return to the North East next week in a break from the league, they go to League Two outfit Hartlepool United for a FA Cup third round tie. They lost their previous cup game under Clement earlier in the season at a fourth tier side Portsmouth; they have come a long way since that humiliation at Fratton Park.

This result was the third time that Derby had lost in the league and their largest defeat since the change of management made in the summer and have normally responded well after defeats to Leeds United and Nottingham Forest earlier in the campaign, so they will look to kick on in the rest of what will be a testing phase of the season with Reading and Birmingham City to visit the iPro Stadium when the SkyBet Championship resumes.

Teams:

Middlesbrough: Konstantopoulos, Nsue, Ayala, Gibson, Friend, Clayton, Leadbitter, Stuani, Downing, Adomah & Kike (Nugent – 59); Substitutes – Amorebieta, Mejias, Kalas, Fabbrini, Forshaw, Nugent & Zuculini.

DCFC – Grant, Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Warnock, Thorne (Hendrick – 23), Johnson (y/c – 76), Butterfield (Weimann – 76), Russell, Martin (y/c – 12) & Ince; Substitutes – Bent, Baird, Weimann, Pearce, Shotton, Hendrick & Mitchell.

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