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Action packed final game at Pride Park

Last updated : 07 May 2007 By Rams Mad Editor

Derby County finished the regular season on a high note, beating arch rivals Leeds United by 2 goals to nil. The game was well fought but the Rams always had the upper hand and seemed to play more fluent football now all the pressure of automatic promotion had disappeared.

A run out for Stephen Pearson seems to indicate that he will be fit and ready to go in the Play-off semi-final, that we now know will be played against Southampton.

Ref Phil Crossley being attended by mediacla staff after tangling with Seth Johnson and sustaining two broken ribs
The game started with a bizarre event as Seth Johnson, known for his hard tackling, seemed to get tangled up with the referee, Phil Crossley. The resulting fall for the unsuspecting official saw him writhing in agony with what we now know to have been two broken ribs. The medical personnel, including the Rams physic's took ten minutes to get Mr Crossley on to a stretcher and away to the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.

The game flowed well after the restart but it was not until the last minute of the ten minutes added on to the half for the referees injury that the Ram took the lead with a well taken goal by Darren Curry.

With six Police dogs keeping order at the end containing the 1500 travelling Leeds fans, the game was finally over when Tyrone Mears scored his first goal for the Rams to seal a 2-0 victory and send Leeds down to Division 1, although they were already down after having ten points deducted for going into receivership.

Billy Davies takes the squad on an end of season lap of honour
With the game and normal season over it was left to Manager Billy Davies and his squad to show their appreciation for all the support they have had from Rams supporters both home and away this season. They toured the pitch to superb applause, which was reciprocated by Davies and his squad.

No matter what happens in the play-offs Derby County have had a magnificent resurgence from this time 12 months ago. Promotion via the play-off's would be the icing on the cake, but not the end of the world if we have to re-group and gain promotion in the second year of the Three year plan, so often talked about by the Directors and Billy Davies.