
Derby have been dreadful recently, so surely we'd get something from this one? We've been without a convincing win for a while. Lately we've been lacking decent passages of play. On top of that, our stats said our possession and expected goals have been dwindling. If you're into that kind of thing.
At the halfway point of the season we have nothing but time on our side. Mundle, Browne and Watson would all be returning soon. We still needed a striker, but lets not forget the up-and-coming Abdullahi and Ogunsuyi.
Apparently the home side have a few celebrity supporters including the people's gobshite, Dennis Skinner, and my favourite guitarist of all time, Graham Coxon. Just for the record. Derby are sponsored by FanHub - an app that 'rewards match-going fans for their loyalty'. As opposed to a Derby season ticket which rewards them with disappointment.
Enzo started on the left, although from what I've seen he much prefers to control things and play through the middle. But it's hard to shake things up when Captain Dan and Jobe have been so solid. Recently the Rams had seen both their centre backs injured. Nasty. But good for us.
5 mins in and we'd seen 5% of the ball. Full of vim and Weetabix, Derby were playing like men possessed, running 20 yards to get us off the ball and doubling up on us. We'd seen recently what teams with nothing to lose could do and they'd clearly come out with a point to prove, but we gave as good as we got. Eli introduced them to Sunderland press by muscling through the middle. But, as we've done regularly of late, we weren't holding onto the ball enough.
Derby's Adams left a boot on Cirkin after some promising forward movement. Cirkin and Enzo had looked decent last week but Dennis was struggling to keep up with him. The Frenchman's lightning quick overlaps were just too quick for him. Our press seemed to pick up when we won our first corner of the match. Please play it short. We did, but no takers on the front post and we saw a shot calmly collect by their keeper. 95% is still not a goal.
We got our heads down and turned the pressure up. Rigg gave the ball away but duly won it back. We broke, Jobe's ball to Wilson some how made its way to Eli. Mayenda found himself in a position through on goal, and delivered the goods. MEGS! 1-0 nil. Gerrup.
'...we're by far the greatest team the world has ever seen'.
The lads smelled blood in the water and immediately looked for a second. Dennis finally tuned in with Enzo and caught one of his overlaps. Cooking on gas for now. Jobe picked up a yella for a late challenge. That'd no doubt take sting out of the prodigal man-child or the next 60 mins.
Lethal Le Fee steamed a ball into the six yard box with the poise you'd expect from a player of his calibre. No questions being asked around his price tag here. Another couple of weeks with him in the team and hopefully we'd see some healthy interplay develop. Le Fee had the chance to step up to another free kick and only their man at the back in the special hat managed to push it round the post.
Derby's aggressive opening had now whimpered from a scream to a fart as their players ran out of ideas. Their fans barely had the wind in them to boo them off at half time. A sad state of affairs. What a shame.
Half time revealed two things. 1) Whoever was in change of the tunes at pride park had good taste - Immigrant Song by Led Zep! 2) Sheffield United were losing. So that's a nice thing to happen, isn't it?
2nd half started and Derby tried their 'run at them likes nutters' approach. That worked for about 30 seconds until Eli terrified again them with a bit of Mayenda magic. We wobbled for a spell and then Wilson went one of his wonderful runs. It took both the keeper and a midfielder to stop him. Well done Wilson, Chin up. You'll bounce back.
A triple change saw a complete reshuffle in their midfield and they started to look like a home side again. Patto pulled a wonderful save as Derby started to dig their heals in. 65 mins in - you know what I'm going to say... Subs.
Their trifactor of changes seemed to have done the trick. Momentum significantly shifted in their favour. Surely we couldn't just let them make a triple change and batter us without switching things up? Patto then decided to have a lie down. Which is obviously finally when it's our keeper doing it...
Four corners in a short space of time for the Rams and it wasn't looking good as we struggled to get a hold on things. With half an hour left we still hadn't made any changes and Derby were then forced to make two more changes due to an injury. RLB is known to hold off on the subs, leaving them as late as he can, but I'd like to know what his thinking is behind this approach when were are so frequently on the back foot. We needed to kill it. Again.
The gaffer must have heard me because Roberts and Ballard came on for Cirkin and Eli. With 20 mins to go Derby weren't letting us have a second on the ball. Another team we've faced recently who've been dangerous towards the end, just because they have nothing to lose.
Cue the shenanigans.
An excellent ball through put Enzo through, and the ball fell to Izzy who battered in to make it 0-2. However, despite no sign of an offside or any infringement, Wilson's goal was ruled out about 30 seconds after he scored it. Mental. No flags raised. No-one rolling around on the floor. Stupid. At this point I decided to go for an angry trip to the loo.
Hjelde on for Enzo and Samed for Rigg. Gutsy Derby couldn't do enough. After seven minutes of added time we ended up with the three points. Phew. We love you Sunderland, we do.
Wilson went over to discuss with the officials why his goal was disallowed. The ref seemed to indicate the ball over the top was offside, despite the linesman failing use his special flag and the ref himself being nowhere near. Basically, he buckled. A tragic decision. Not that you needed any redemption, Izzy. Eli had a good dance with the home crowd and Wilson celebrated too. There's that daft smile again.
When things clicked, we looked lethal. We just didn't do it enough. If we get promoted would we cut it in the Prem? Yes, we'd probably beat one of the struggling sides from Manchester. But could we cut it against giants like Nottingham Forest or Bournemouth?
Well done lads,
Keep the faith.
GPD