I have to be honest and admit that Derby County surprised me with their opening day 2-1 victory over Birmingham City in the nPower Championship. Surprised me because I wasn’t expecting it. Not in the least.
I’m usually an optimist on opening day – if you can’t be optimistic on opening day, when can you be? – but the fixture list fates had rewarded Derby County’s struggles last season with a home game against newly relegated Birmingham City. Our opponents, despite spending most of the summer wrangling with their neighbours over compensation for former manager Alex McLeish, had made a good managerial appointment in Chris Hughton and retained the majority of their Premiership players.
I’d been in Mallorca for 10 days, only getting back on the Friday before the game, and wasn’t too surprised to discover the Rams had a huge injury list.
The irony of manager Nigel Clough’s team selection wasn’t lost on me either – nine new signings to improve the side and the Rams were starting with last season’s forgotten man Lee Croft, a player who had an unsuccessful loan spell at League One side Huddersfield Town during the first-half of last season and wasn’t even given a squad number for the second-half.
Despite a bright opening ten minutes by the Rams, my pessimism appeared well founded when nobody picked up Curtis Davies’s run into the penalty area, allowing him to head home a 19th minute corner.
All of last season’s failings appeared to be resurfacing, most notably the uncanny ability to give the ball away to the opposition cheaply and an inability to defend set-pieces.
To their credit, Derby County didn’t let their heads drop and, lifted by a 27,210 Pride Park crowd, stepped it up. Jason Shackell, captain for the day on his debut, headed the equaliser on 26 minutes and Steven Davies hit a sensational long-range winner on 42 minutes that beat Blues goalkeeper Boaz Myhill all ends up.
Back to the forgotten man for a moment; Lee Croft was a revelation. I’m not going to say he put in a world beating performance because he didn’t. The former canary was more guilty than most for giving the ball away cheaply, but he did put in a real “shift” as Robbie Savage was so fond of saying. Croft’s performance was whole-hearted, hard working, and he never stopped running for 90 minutes. He hustled, he bustled, he closed players down, and he tackled – yes, you heard me right, Lee Croft tackled – and he was involved in much of Derby County’s attacking play. His total commitment to the cause helped lift the crowd and, in many ways, typified the overall team performance.
As for the three debutants, well central defender Jason Shackell proved a colossus at the heart of the Rams defence. I don’t think he missed a header or a tackle all game long and showed composure on the ball. On top of that he scored his first Derby County goal, and made two perfectly timed late challenges inside the penalty area to deny Birmingham City two almost certain goals. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it was the most impressive debut by a Rams defender since Paul McGrath pulled on a Derby County shirt at the Baseball Ground.
Kevin Kilbane settled into the game at left-back the longer it went on. In the first-half, when Birmingham City held the ascendancy, he was too easily beaten down the left-flank by Blues players who appeared to just run past him. In the second-half though, when Derby County were looking to see out the game for the three points, Kilbane’s experience shone through as he did the right things at the right times. Add to that a composure on the ball, and a willingness to overlap and contribute to the attack, and Kilbane should be a good loan addition to the squad. Whether he’ll be able to hold down a first-team place ahead of dead-leg victim Gareth Roberts remains to be seen though.
I thought Craig Bryson had a good game in central midfield but some of the fans around me were calling him for not getting involved enough. Personally, I thought they were being somewhat harsh. For me Bryson tackled well, passed the ball neatly and efficiently, and had a good “engine” as Robbie Savage was also fond of saying. In some ways I can see what they were getting at but I felt this was down to Bryson trying to get used to the 4-1-3-2 formation the Rams played. Bryson seemed more comfortable when defensive midfielder James Bailey was alongside him (in a more traditional 4-4-2 set-up) than behind him.
Finally, I have to comment on the outstanding performance of 18-year old Mark O’Brien. The youngster replaced Russell Anderson (groin injury) in central defence on 35 minutes and didn’t look out of place. For a young-lad he plays like an old school defender – no frills, no spills, just head the ball clear or kick it into the crowd. Like Shackell, I don’t think O’Brien missed a header or tackle and he threw himself in front of the ball to block a goal bound shot late in the second-half. A very assured performance by a young lad who underwent surgery to repair a valve in his heart in October 2009.
Birmingham City fans will no doubt point to a number of missed chances, and the fact that they had the better of things before the break, in saying they were unlucky.
I believe in the old adage though that you make your own luck. Derby County looked the more likely to score after the break, would’ve scored even more had Jamie Ward converted either or both of two very good second-half chances, and comfortably saw out four minutes of added time in Birmingham City’s half of the field.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Rams won their opening fixture in the previous two seasons and both of those campaigns ended in relegation dogfights.
That said, this was a hugely impressive team performance against strong opponents. With ten players unavailable due to injury, there was a balance and resilience to this Derby County performance that hopefully bodes well for the season...