football rambles

 There was quite a bit riding on this match, with Cambridge needing a point to stay up and Derby needing a win to at least stay in the driving seat for promotion, if not guarantee it (they needed Peterborough and Bolton to lose to secure promotion today - and that didn't happen). Cambridge started off the game pretty defensively (keeping in mid they needed a point). However, this was probably their downfall. A too defensive set up gave the pacey players of Derby space to run in. Cambridge had a few chances of their own, but the best chances of the first half fell to the visitors. Mendez -Laing after hitting that bar early on finally got his goal when Louie Sibley found an inch perfect pass for him to run onto and score in 39th minute. The second half was a very different matter. In the first half Cambridge had been trying to run the clock down and Derby had been attacking with some urgency. The roles were reversed in the second half. Unfortunately, the Us were unable to find the ne...

 On Saturday we travelled up to London Road to see Posh take on Derby and although it started off looking good for Posh, things quickly went downhill.  Posh definitely started the game the brighter of the two and it was Johnson Clarke Harris who put the home team ahead on 23 minutes. At this point it looked like Posh would be comfortable and Derby who would be on the end of a beating. However, that was not to be the case and the trio of ex-Posh boy Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, ex-Villa man Conor Hourihane and Martyn Waghorn who set to put the home team to the cosh. Just before the half hour mark Waghorn struck. On 37 minutes the game was turned on its head when Hourihane and Mendez-Laing put together a move straight off the training ground with Mendez-Laing putting the ball on Cashin's head to give the Rams the lead.  By the 40th minute, it really did feel a long time since Posh had been in the lead and this goal really did sum up how the day was going for the home team. Mende...

 This was quite an important match for both of the teams with Derby occupying the last play-off place in 6th and Peterborough in 7th. Posh couldn't replace the Rams after this game, but a positive result really put pressure on Derby. This could end up being a pivotal result with Peterborough seemingly with what looks on paper, like an easier run in. It was really a game of two halves with Derby dominant in the first half and perhaps unlucky not to go in at the break ahead. Old Villa boy Connor Hourihane and old Peterborough favourite, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing in particular causing Posh problems. Will Norris in goals for Peterborough pulled off a couple of big saves to keep his team in it. The second half however was a very different story. Fergie clearly outthought Paul Warne and to give his team fresh impetus brought on Dan Butler and Kwame Poku for Josh Knight and Harrison Burrows and it really paid dividends. Ephron Mason Clark showed speed on the left in the 52nd minute and after...

 Here's a scarf that is a bit rammy in every sense of the year and to be honest as it is 35 years old it doesn't look too bad. It's a scarf from Derby's centenary year of 1985. The season was 1984-1985, which is what it said on the shirt that they had at the time. The yellow, blue and brown on the scarf that also appeared on the shirt was a nod to their original colours. It wasn't a great season though, as although manager Arthur Cox was to lead them to successive promotions, they finished a disappointing 7th in the old Division 3 at the Baseball Swamp. Bobby Davison helped himself to 26 goals. They also had Kevin Wilson and Andy Garner as forwards so they definitely not short of firepower. Local lad Steve Sutton would become a well-known keeper and Gary Ablett would go on to play for Liverpool. There was also the experience of Kenny Burns and John Robertson, who had tasted European glory with deadly rivals, Nottingham Forest. They probably should have done better r...