JONES TOPS THE INDEX

David Jones` goal and overall performance against Colchester United last Friday night has seen the midfielder record the highest score of the week in The Actim Index - the Official Player Ratings of the Coca-Cola Championship.

The 22-year-old former Manchester United starlet shot 64 places up the rankings and is now the 252nd ranked player in The Coca-Cola Championship with a total Actim Index score of 197. The £1 million January signing will be sure to - rise further up the Index -next week following his match-winning brace of goals in the Rams` 2-1 win against Norwich on Tuesday night.

According to Actim Stats, Jones has scored 5 goals in 19 appearances having been on the pitch for a total of 1,689 minutes. He has also had 5 assists, 20 shots on target, 22 shots off target, 23 tackles won, 224 completed passes, nine dribbles, 29 crosses, four clearances, 16 interceptions and two blocks.

Derby`s other £1 million man, Steve Howard, was also on target for the Rams on Friday in their 5-1 demolition of play-off hopefuls Colchester United. The old-fashioned striker`s goal took his season`s tally to 15 and helped the former Luton Town favourite leapfrog into 5th position overall in the Index.

The Actim Index is calculated using a unique mathematical formula that rates each player`s contribution be it goals, shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, crosses, saves, clearances, blocks, interceptions, time on the pitch or number of points gained by the team with marks deducted for red and yellow cards. Two additional calculations, which take account of player assists and goalkeeper`s clean sheets, have been added for the new season to increase the amount of variables a player is now measured by.

Analysis of all Championship games is taking place throughout the season and so far the top five Derby County players are:

Steve Howard 5th
5th Highest Ranked Striker
515 Index Score

Stephen Bywater 36th
6th Highest Ranked Goalkeeper
395 Index Score

Marc Edworthy 46th
12th Highest Ranked Defender
382 Index Score

Matt Oakley 60th
8th Highest Ranked Midfielder
365 Index Score

Craig Fagan 74th
8th Highest Ranked Striker
355 Index Score

The list of the Top 100 players and Top 5 players by position will be available free of charge from the Actim website: www.pa sport.com/en/products/actim.html which will be updated during the football season every Tuesday for the Barclays Premiership and every Thursday for The Coca-Cola Championship.

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