By Our man at Pride Park
August 31 2003

Derby County fall to their third consecutive home defeat of the new season. Although showing signs of improvement the Rams have yet to win on their home soil this season and find themselves at the bottom of the first division table.

Rams 0 Albion 1

A match that looked very winnable for the Rams but lady luck and a dire refereeing decision again see the Rams pointless at home.

Derby looked to be stabilising their performances in recent weeks but whole games in the division rely on a few key moments. One of this weeks key moments happened with only ten minutes on the clock. Lee Morris took the ball past Albion defender Lars Sigurdsson appeared to trip Morris inside the penalty area and was clearly the last man in the defensive line. Referee Michael Ryan took the view that it was outside the box despite protestation from Morris to the assistant referee. Ryan booked Sigurdsson for the challenge and I suspect his manager and teammates were relieved that it wasn’t a red.

Lady luck again deserted Derby in the 20th minute when Joost Volmer totally missed a clearance and left Rams striker Mathias Svensson with a one on one against Russell Hoult in the Albion goal. His attempt clearing the crossbar by a few feet rather than nestling in the back of the net.

The Rams faithful were silenced for a second in the 26th minute when Scott Dobie reeled away after placing the ball in the Rams net. The Albion crowd were also celebrating until they realised that the assistant referee was flagging for offside. A huge let-off for the Rams as this was the only real sign that Albion could breach the Derby defence during the half.

Derby looked the more likely to sneak a win as the second half unfolded with Lee Morris making ex Rams keeper, Russell Hoult, produce a fine diving save. Fate however was to take a hold of the game, Derby’s central defender Michael Johnson having to come of with an injury in the 67th minute. Junior replaced the injured Johnson as 16 year-old Tom Huddleston moved into central defence.

A poor refereeing decision (one of many during the afternoon) by referee Ryan in the 74th minute proved to be Derby County’s downfall. A keenly contested ball in the middle of the pitch saw Simo Valakari challenge for the ball as the Albionl player tried to shield it with his legs whilst still on the floor. Valakari although strong did not appear to touch the Albion players legs whilst making the challenge but whistle happy referee Ryan gave a free kick to the visitors. The free kick was placed accurately into the Derby box and Rob Hulse struck the ball toward goal. Rams keeper Andy Oakes having had little to do all game appeared to see the ball late and although in easy parrying or catching distance he couldn’t get a hand to the ball. The Rams really do seem to have a major problem in the goal keeping area.

On another day it could have been a very different story but the continued bad luck of the Rams seems to be continuing. Bottom of the league, they need to shake off this bad luck soon or the fight to save their first division status will be a long and hard one during the coming months.