Boxing Day Misery

A poor performance from The Rams saw Blackpool leave with a comfortable three points on a disappointing afternoon at Pride Park. The Christmas cheer didn`t last for long with Blackpool hitting the bar in the second minute through Brett Ormerod and the diminutive striker proved a handful all afternoon for the Derby backline with his deflected cross opening the scoring and a neat finish wrapping up the victory with ten minutes to go after he was released by a ball over the top. The Rams lack of creativity in midfield was exposed with chances few and far between despite hard working performances from Paul Dickov and Chris Porter and there were murmurings of discontent as the final whistle brought to an end a second consecutive 2-0 home defeat.

Nigel Clough made three changes to the side beaten by Doncaster last Saturday with Dean Leacock and Paul Green missing out through injury and illness respectively and DJ Campbell dropping down to the bench. Jake Buxton came in for his first start since the end of August with Lee Croft coming in on the right of midfield and Chris Porter lining up alongside Paul Dickov up front. Blackpool had former Derby man Ian Evatt at the heart of their defence and former loanees Rob Edwards and Barry Bannan on the bench.

Blackpool had the first chance of the game through Brett Ormerod when Ben Burgess` flick found him on the right of the area, he was given way too much time on the ball and he cut inside before crashing a shot against the underside of the crossbar before the ball bounced to safety. Stephen Bywater was then called into action as Ormerod`s low cross took a big deflection off Jake Buxton but the keeper reacted well to claim the ball in a bright start for the visitors.

A ball over the top found Ormerod again, looking suspiciously offside, and with all the time in the world he somehow bobbled his effort wide of the post with Bywater beaten. Lee Croft had The Rams first effort on fifteen minutes when his low shot was well kept out by Paul Rachubka before the ball ended up wide after a scramble in the area.

Charlie Adam came close with a spectacular effort from just inside Derby`s half when he spotted Bywater off his line but his effort whistled narrowly wide of the mark. Brett Ormerod then brought another stop out of Bywater with a powerful drive after he escaped the attentions of Dean Moxey. Chris Porter stretched to reach Paul Dickov header but his volley looped harmlessly over and the visitors took the lead with seven minutes to go in the first half. Brett Ormerod was again the danger man escaping down the left before cutting into the area and his low cross took a wicked deflection off Jake Buxton that lifted the ball over the sprawling Bywater and into the net.

The Rams couldn`t get themselves back into the game in the closing moments of the opening period and the second half got underway with neither side able to create any chances in a scrappy start. Lee Hendrie replaced Lee Croft just before the hour mark as Nigel Clough looked to shake things up and Rob Hulse followed shortly afterwards in place of Paul Dickov.

Dean Moxey picked up a booking when he overran the ball and lunged into a tackle as both sides were effectively cancelling each other out in the middle of the park with neither side looking likely to score. DJ Campbell became the third player brought on from the bench when he replaced Chris Porter with fifteen minutes to go to introduce some pace to try and unsettle the solid looking Blackpool backline.

Brett Ormerod latched onto a long ball over the top and closed on goal before finishing low across Stephen Bywater into the far corner to ensure the three points with ten minutes to go. Dean Moxey then caught Brett Ormerod as he looked to break again and, despite the striker looking offside, the leftback was shown a second yellow card for the tackle as he would have been clear on goal had he been allowed to run.

Robbie Savage curled a free kick towards goal from just outside the area deep into injury time but it was an easy save for Paul Rachubka after a largely untroubled afternoon for the stopper. The referee put the Derby fans out of their misery at the final whistle and there were boo`s from a half empty Pride Park after a poor Boxing Day performance from their side.

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