retired_jgirl87

^^^^
What he said.

Great to see an Aussie involved in your promotion-winning side - Kasey Wehrmann :thup: :thup:

retired_bbcarr

cheers, guys johansen did prety well (very well for a free transfer) scoring a couple of important goals. would have offered him a new contract had he not decided to retire and spav, wehrman was an absolute star of my side. we were noticably weaker in the games that he didn't play (think liverpool without steven gerrard)

---------------------------------

After many ins and outs over the close season, Rob has finally assembled a squad he felt would be able to at least be in with a shout of staying up. By far the biggest profile signing was Jay Jay Okocha who came in on a free transfer after being released by Bolton, and Jonathan Stead cost the same amount after a year out of the game recovering from an horrific leg break. Mauro Franchi, who cost £1M from Brighton, was someone that Rob had high hopes for over the next few years, and in the wake of Stephane Henchoz's retirement, Michael Dawson was brought in from Hartlepool to add quality to the defensive line.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Derby County - Tuesday 23rd August 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== Squad============================================= ================================================== =No Name Position(s) Nat Born Age Caps Gls Wages Expires Value-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Ball, Michael SW/D LC ENG 2.10.76 28 1 - £5.25K 23.5.07 £1.3M 49 Banks, Neil S C ENG 10.11.89 15 - - £525 3.5.08 £625K 4 Dawson, Michael D C ENG 18.11.80 24 - - £13.25K 20.6.08 £3.3M - Downing, Stewart AM L ENG 19.7.81 24 4 - £10.25K 6.6.10 £3.4M 23 Doyle, Nathan M C ENG 21.6.84 21 - - £725 14.6.06 £450K 14 Ferrell, Andy M C ENG 11.10.81 23 - - £7.25K 11.6.10 £4.2M 11 Foy, Robbie AM/F L SCO 27.1.82 23 - - £1K 15.5.07 £1.8M 18 Franchi, Mauro F C ITA 25.1.87 18 - - £1K 17.6.10 £3.3M 1 Gallacher, Paul GK SCO 14.8.76 29 3 - £5.75K 2.6.08 £2.4M 50 Hankinson, Michael GK SCO 4.7.80 25 - - £1.3K 2.6.07 £700K 12 Hartley, Paul AM R SCO 19.10.73 31 - - £11K 10.5.07 £1.1M 10 Hulse, Robert S C ENG 25.10.76 28 - - £11K 22.6.06 £1.5M 25 Istead, Steven M C ENG 5.7.83 22 - - £9K 5.5.09 £3M 6 Jay Jay Okocha AM C NGA 14.8.70 35 79 12 £17K 21.6.06 £275K 22 Knight, Leon F RC ENG 16.9.79 25 - - £15K 28.5.07 £3M 16 Labarthe Tome, Gianfranco S C PER 20.9.81 23 2 - £2K 8.6.06 £250K 15 Lewis, Joe GK ENG 15.2.84 21 - - £825 13.5.09 £400K 5 Medjani, Carl SW/D C FRA 15.5.82 23 - - £4.9K 24.6.11 £2.4M 26 Nakata, Hidetoshi AM RC JPN 22.1.74 31 57 11 £25K 22.6.08 £4.2M 19 Naysmith, Gary D/DM L SCO 16.11.75 29 41 2 £12.5K 28.6.09 £2.3M 20 Novo, Nacho S C ESP 3.6.76 29 - - £10K 9.5.08 £3M 13 Powell, Darren D C ENG 10.3.73 32 - - £10.25K 3.5.07 £575K 9 Smith, Tommy F RC ENG 22.5.77 28 - - £14K 22.6.06 £1.6M 8 Stead, Jonathan S C ENG 9.4.80 25 - - £15K 6.6.06 £3.1M 17 Tate, Alan D RC ENG 2.12.79 25 - - £10.5K 15.5.08 £1.4M 7 Wehrman, Kasey DM C AUS 16.8.74 31 27 4 £7.5K 20.5.08 £3M 2 Whing, Andy D R ENG 17.11.81 23 - - £2.3K 16.5.09 £1.4M 31 Wood, Neil AM C ENG 4.1.80 25 - - £4.8K 14.5.09 £1M </pre>


A pre-season tour of Ireland saw Derby take in game with Lansdowne, Cobh Ramblers, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. The team showed good form without, and flew home having gained wins of 6-0, 5-1, 2-0 and 3-2 respectively. The star of the tour was striker Jon Stead who scored five goals across the four games, and more than proved to Rob that his injury hell was behind him.

Tottenham were the opposition for opening day as the Londoners visited Pride Park. The home side got off to an absolute flyer with Stead putting them 2-0 up inside twenty minutes. Over the rest of the game, however, they were taught a harsh lesson about the Premiership as Spurs battled back to take a 3-2 win home with them. It was obvious that not for one instant could you lose your concentration in this league as you would most certainly be punished.

A visit from defending champions Manchester United was never going to go well, and to be honest, Rob was quite happy that the giants were restricted to a 2-0 win, both goals coming from Ruud van Nistelrooy. Howeve,r what that result did mean was that Derby really needed to take the three points from Crystal Palace's trip to Pride Park. And, though they fell behind to an early Mathieu Flamini goal, that's exactly what they did as Kasey Wehrman struck either side of half time to lift Derby out of the relegation zone.

Their first away trip of the season took them to Newcastle, and after having the cheek to go in front through Andy Ferrell, Derby were soon put back in their place as a second half blitz saw the St. James' Park side run out 3-1 winners. A league cup second round game against Kidderminster provided a chance to get back to winning ways, and they did just that with an easy 3-0 success. Another home game (their fifth out of the first six games of the season) saw Middlesbrough travel to Pride Park, expecting to win. But Stead and Wehrman got the goals which gave Derby their second three point haul of the season.

Into October, and Rob's men claimed their first away points of the season with a win at St Mary's over Southampton. James Beattie had put the home side in front, but goals before half time from Okocha, Stead and Robbie Foy saw that Derby proved just too good for the south coast boys on the day. A trip to Bolton yielded another point as they defended well to claim a point off Andy Hessenthaler's men and then, despite a late scare, they held on at Pride Park to defeat Birmingham by 3-2. Their run of five unbeaten came to a halt as goals from Foy and Okocha weren't enough to stop Man City sending them home with a 4-2 defeat to show for their travels, and the misery continued into the league cup third round when a trip to White Hart Lane ended in a 4-1 hammering for Derby. The final game of October saw fellow promoted side Wigan travel to Pride Park, and for a while it looked as if the points would be heading back to the JJB as they led 2-0 at half time. But a fantastic come back saw a Jon Stead double put Derby level, and then goals from Nakata and Novo sealed the win.


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Premier Division - Wednesday 2nd November 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2005/6 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Man Utd 11 6 0 0 15 0 4 0 1 11 5 30 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Chelsea 10 4 1 0 7 1 5 0 0 9 2 28 3rd Arsenal 11 2 3 0 7 4 4 0 2 8 6 21 4th Charlton 11 4 2 0 8 3 1 2 2 6 7 19 5th Liverpool 10 4 0 0 7 0 1 3 2 4 9 18 6th Birmingham 11 4 1 0 10 2 1 1 4 7 10 17 7th Newcastle 11 4 0 1 11 5 1 2 3 5 7 17 8th Blackburn 10 3 2 1 10 6 1 2 1 3 6 16 9th DERBY 10 4 0 2 13 11 1 1 2 6 8 16 10th Tottenham 11 2 2 2 7 8 1 3 1 6 6 14 11th Aston Villa 11 3 1 2 11 9 1 1 3 5 10 14 12th Southampton 11 2 2 1 6 5 1 2 3 4 7 13 13th Crystal Palace 10 1 3 0 7 4 1 2 3 5 9 11 14th Middlesbrough 11 2 1 2 4 4 0 4 2 4 7 11 15th West Ham 11 2 1 3 3 4 1 1 3 6 13 11 16th Bolton 11 2 2 2 5 6 0 2 3 4 7 10 17th Man City 11 3 1 1 12 4 0 0 6 1 14 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th W.B.A. 11 2 3 1 7 6 0 0 5 0 5 9 19th Fulham 11 1 2 2 6 6 1 0 5 3 9 8 20th Wigan 10 0 0 5 5 12 0 1 4 3 14 1 </pre>

retired_bbcarr

November/December 2005

A trip to Arsenal saw Derby prove that they had what it takes to mix it with the big boys, even if they did come out of this game with a narrow and undeserved defeat. They twice took the lead (through Mauro Franchi and Andy Ferrell) but both times Arsenal pegged them back with goals from Robin van Persie. And, to rob Derby of the least they deserved, Thierry Henry snuck a winner in the 92nd minute as Arsenal strived to stay in touch with Man Utd and Chelsea.

They bounced back from the disappointment of the visit to Highbury by trouncing Fulham 4-0 at Pride Park. The goals came from four different sources, but all were midfielders. Robbie Foy got the ball rolling before Hidetoshi Nakata doubled the lead. Jay Jay Okocha grabbed the third and Andy Ferrell rounded matters off late on.

An away game against WBA provided a hard fought three points as Derby had to defend strongly to keep the lead given to them by Kasey Wehrman's third minute goal in tact. But they did, and as the home side grew ever more frustrated, they ended up with two players sent off in the final quarter, giving Derby an easy finish to the game. Rob's boys couldn't keep the momentum going past West Ham, however. The London side came to Pride Park and left with a 2-1 victory which more than highlighted Derby's problems with goalshy strikers.

For the trip to Charlton a week later, Derby had a new frontman on board. Rob had sold Dean Ashton to Celtic 18 months previously, but the Englishman had failed to break into the side past Sutton and Hartson, and had managed only five appearences in that time. So when Rob tabled a £3,000,000 bid, Celtic accpeted and Dean was more than happy to link up with his former boss and try his hand at the Premiership. He went straight into the side for the Charlton game, and scored the opening goal in the fifth minute. Derby went on to win the game 3-1 with their further two goals coming from Carl Medjani and Mauro Franchi.

A visit from Blackburn saw Zoltan Gera snatch two points from Derby right at the death. Wehrman had given the home side the lead, and they looked headed for a deserved three points when Gera volleyed home from a corner with just sixty seconds left on the clock. And following that, a determined performance at Anfield was not enough as Harry Kewell bagged the only goal of the game to give Liverpool the win.

As December moved to a close, Robbie Foy and Kasey Wehrman grabbed the goals which sealed a win over Bolton at Pride Park, and then it was Ferrell, Ashton and Okocha who claimed the three points over Tottenham. 2005, a year which had been quite3 fantastic for both Rob and Derby, ended with a trip to Villa Park, and after falling behind to a Lee Hendrie goal, Wehrman bagged the equaliser before Okocha saw them into 2006 on the back of a win.

retired_bbcarr

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Premier Division - Saturday 31st December 2005********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2005/6 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Man Utd 20 10 0 0 30 0 8 0 2 24 10 54 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Chelsea 20 7 3 0 14 3 10 0 0 20 3 54 3rd Arsenal 20 6 3 1 17 9 5 1 4 9 9 37 4th Newcastle 21 8 2 1 24 12 2 4 4 11 13 36 5th DERBY 20 6 1 3 21 14 5 1 4 17 14 35 6th Liverpool 21 8 2 1 21 5 1 5 4 7 17 34 7th Birmingham 20 6 3 1 14 6 3 2 5 11 14 32 8th Man City 21 6 2 2 22 9 3 1 7 10 17 30 9th Blackburn 20 4 3 2 13 10 4 3 4 12 12 30 10th Charlton 20 5 2 3 12 11 2 5 3 11 13 28 11th Tottenham 21 5 3 3 17 12 1 5 4 9 15 26 12th West Ham 21 4 2 4 6 7 3 2 6 11 26 25 13th Southampton 21 3 3 5 12 19 3 3 4 7 9 24 14th Aston Villa 21 4 2 5 18 18 1 5 4 7 14 22 15th Bolton 20 3 5 2 8 8 1 4 5 6 11 21 16th Crystal Palace 21 3 5 3 13 10 1 3 6 10 18 20 17th Middlesbrough 21 4 2 5 8 9 0 6 4 5 11 20 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th W.B.A. 21 2 4 4 7 10 2 1 8 5 17 17 19th Fulham 21 1 6 3 10 13 1 0 10 5 23 12 20th Wigan 21 1 1 8 9 19 0 3 8 7 30 7 </pre>

retired_bbcarr

January - May 2006

Stupidity strikes again! Once more, I forgot to print out my results page, and so have no idea who we beat or lost to. And, once again, I'm just too lazy to look back through the history of the game to find out. So, basically, in summary, the final eighteen games of the season saw us claim seventeen points as we did, I remember, go through a bad spell in February. But thanks mainly to the midfield (10 goals from Andy Ferrell, 9 from Nakata, 9 from Wehrman, 8 from Okocha and 7 from Foy) we were able to keep ourselves in the top ten all the time, and a good platform was built for the following season's challenge. Unfortunately, I think I forgot to print out the results for that season as well, so that might flash past in a matter of seconds.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Premier Division - Monday 29th May 2006********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2005/6 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Man Utd 38 17 2 0 50 2 12 2 5 41 21 91 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Chelsea 38 15 4 0 37 7 12 4 3 30 12 89 3rd Arsenal 38 10 8 1 34 17 12 2 5 30 21 76 4th Newcastle 38 16 2 1 36 13 5 5 9 17 27 70 5th Liverpool 38 13 5 1 34 10 5 8 6 20 24 67 6th Birmingham 38 12 3 4 27 16 5 3 11 20 31 57 7th Blackburn 38 11 4 4 31 18 4 5 10 21 31 54 8th Man City 38 8 8 3 37 20 6 2 11 20 31 52 9th DERBY 38 9 2 8 39 33 7 2 10 30 36 52 10th Charlton 38 8 7 4 26 20 4 8 7 19 23 51 11th Southampton 38 9 5 5 25 22 4 6 9 14 23 50 12th West Ham 38 9 3 7 23 18 5 3 11 17 39 48 13th Tottenham 38 8 5 6 26 22 3 7 9 18 31 45 14th Bolton 38 10 5 4 22 11 1 6 12 8 25 44 15th Aston Villa 38 7 7 5 30 26 3 7 9 17 32 44 16th W.B.A. 38 7 5 7 19 21 5 3 11 16 27 44 17th Crystal Palace 38 6 6 7 21 20 1 5 13 16 37 32 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th R Middlesbrough 38 6 4 9 13 17 0 8 11 7 23 30 19th R Fulham 38 4 7 8 21 30 2 2 15 6 33 27 20th R Wigan 38 4 2 13 24 41 1 6 12 17 48 23 </pre>

retired_bbcarr

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Derby County - Monday 29th May 2006********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2005/6 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------24 Ashton, Dean 25 11 0 0 8 0 0 5 8.48 3 Ball, Michael 11 (3) 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 6.57 49 Banks, Neil - - - - - - - - ---- 4 Dawson, Michael 38 0 0 0 4 8 0 1 7.32 21 Downing, Stewart 8 (2) 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.90 23 Doyle, Nathan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 14 Ferrell, Andy 16 (9) 10 0 2 (2) 2 2 1 0 7.00 11 Foy, Robbie 33 7 0 0 3 1 0 1 7.21 18 Franchi, Mauro 27 (10) 9 0 0 7 0 0 1 7.57 1 Gallacher, Paul 36 0 51 0 0 0 1 0 7.25 50 Hankinson, Michael 3 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 6.67 12 Hartley, Paul 11 (1) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.50 10 Hulse, Robert 4 (5) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.22 25 Istead, Steven 8 (2) 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 6.90 6 Jay Jay Okocha 33 8 0 0 4 1 0 2 7.21 22 Knight, Leon 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.00 16 Labarthe Tome, Gianfranco 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 15 Lewis, Joe 4 (1) 0 14 0 0 0 1 0 6.20 5 Medjani, Carl 41 4 0 2 (2) 0 2 0 0 6.76 26 Nakata, Hidetoshi 30 (4) 9 6 0 11 3 0 3 7.47 19 Naysmith, Gary 31 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.81 20 Novo, Nacho 8 (4) 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 7.25 13 Powell, Darren 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 7.00 9 Smith, Tommy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 8 Stead, Jonathan 21 (1) 9 0 0 6 1 0 6 7.73 17 Tate, Alan 36 (1) 0 0 0 1 5 1 0 6.73 7 Wehrman, Kasey 29 (2) 9 0 0 10 11 1 2 7.65 2 Whing, Andy 8 (2) 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6.70 31 Wood, Neil 8 (2) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.70 </pre>

retired_bbcarr

Season 2006-07

Unfortunately, no tables and no results means I haven't a buggery clue how this season panned out. All that I can tell you is that Dean Ashton ended as the top scorer in the Premiership, and deadline day acquisition Youssef Hersi hit an incredible 11 late season goals to fire us towards Europe. And, that was where we ended. A final day defeat saw us drop out of the Champions League places, but a place in the UEFA Cup awaited for the 2007-08 season, which shall be presented in more detail.

retired_bbcarr

August/September 2007

After a successful four game tour of Italy, Rob's new look squad embarked upon the campaign that would bring European football to Pride Park for the first time. In a break with tradition, Rob spurned the chance to bring in a lot of cheap players, opting instead for the big buys which would excite the Derby faithful. In previous seasons, Dennis Bergkamp, Jay Jay Okocha and Edgar Davids had all been brought to Pride Park on free transfers and all had done superbly well, but this time, over half the money he spent over the summer months went on one player. Scott Parker cost £11,250,000 from Newcastle, but the 30 times capped England midfielder was a name which saw merchandising sales rocket at the club shop. Also borught in were Blackburn's left sided defender/midfielder Gareth Barry for a fee of £2.5M, a long term target of Rob's, Italian defender Valerio Di Cesare from Crystal Palace for £2.2M and another big name in the form of Bayern Munich striker Claudio Pizzaro for £4M from the German side. All in all, the squad looked pretty good to Rob's eyes.

So why they sat in just 16th place come the end of September, very few could figure. A 1-0 home defeat to Bolton on opening day had got things off on the wrong foot, and then they had to fight back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 in Birmingham. Manchester United's visit to Pride Park supplied even less cheer, as a consolation goals from Scott Parker was nowhere near enough to trouble the champions who drove back to Manchester with a 3-1 win in the bag.

September began with a visit from Blackburn, a game which everyone at the club identified as the one to finally get things going. But Gareth Barry's former club played Derby off the park as they walked away with a 2-0 win, and Rob was beginning to feel a bit of pressure from the board. They finally got their first win of the season as the campaign rode into Europe. Polonia were their first opponents, and the Polish side put up a brave fight at Pride Park before Kasey Wehrman's late goal gave Derby a slender advantage for the second leg.

A trip to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace took forward the momentum gained from the European win as they claimed their first three point haul of the league season. Palace had a first half goal disallowed for offside, and Derby took full advantage, grabbing the win with goals from Nakata and Pizzaro. Nakata and Gardner were on the scoresheet against Liverpool at Pride Park, but second half defensive lapses let the Anfield side claw back the two goals by which they trailed and come out of the game with a point.

The return leg in Poland was next up, and the tie looked set for extra time as Polonia led 1-0 on the night going into the 85th minute. But, when Aiden McGeady was fouled outside the Polonia penalty area, Gareth Barry stepped up and whipped the free kick into the corner of the net to secure a draw on the night and the aggregate win which put Derby into a round two tie with CSKA. The final game od September took Derby to the capital as they faced Fulham, and a late Pizzaro goal salvaged them a point from a game in which they, quite frankly, deserved nothing.

retired_bbcarr

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * English Premier Division - Sunday 30th September 2007********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2007/8 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Man Utd 6 3 0 0 10 0 2 1 0 5 2 16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Chelsea 5 2 0 0 6 0 3 0 0 9 1 15 3rd Arsenal 6 3 0 1 8 2 2 0 0 5 2 15 4th Newcastle 7 2 1 0 4 2 2 0 2 4 6 13 5th Man City 6 3 0 1 8 3 1 0 1 3 2 12 6th Liverpool 6 2 2 0 8 3 1 1 0 3 2 12 7th Aston Villa 7 2 0 1 7 4 1 2 1 6 6 11 8th West Ham 7 2 0 1 3 3 1 1 2 6 7 10 9th Blackburn 7 1 1 1 4 4 2 0 2 4 6 10 10th W.B.A. 7 3 1 0 7 3 0 0 3 1 8 10 11th Sheff Utd 7 1 1 2 5 9 2 0 1 2 1 10 12th Fulham 7 1 1 1 3 5 1 2 1 4 5 9 13th Bolton 7 2 0 1 4 2 1 0 3 4 10 9 14th Tottenham 6 1 1 0 3 2 1 1 2 9 8 8 15th Southampton 7 2 0 2 7 7 0 2 1 2 4 8 16th DERBY 7 0 1 3 3 8 1 2 0 6 4 6 17th Middlesbrough 7 2 0 2 8 8 0 0 3 1 6 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18th Everton 7 1 1 1 4 4 0 0 4 2 7 4 19th Birmingham 7 0 2 2 6 8 0 0 3 2 9 2 20th Crystal Palace 6 0 0 2 0 3 0 0 4 2 12 0 </pre>

retired_bbcarr

October/November 2007

After ending September on a five match unbeaten run (although three of those five were draws), Derby began October with a second trip to London in four days, this time to visit West Ham. The game was an incredibly tight affair, and looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw when, in the 82nd minute, Robbie Foy drove a shot from the edge of the area into the top corner of the net to give Rob Watson's men the win. Their poor home form continued, however, with the visit of Tottenham to Pride Park. Barely a whimper was heard from the Derby side as they fell to a 3-0 defeat, hardly the preparation they had wanted for their tough European tie in Moscow against CSKA.

But, they kept up their record of not having lost an away game all season as Claudio Pizzaro's goal proved to be the difference between the two sides on the night. It was a result that put Derby firmly in the driving seat, and staring a third round place in the face. Their run of away form came to a skidding halt at the City of Manchester Stadium, however. After going 2-0 up inside twenty minutes through Hersi and McGeady, Derby proceeded to put in a nightmarish defensive performance as they let Man City score five times (including a hat-trick for the ever useless Peter Crouch) and the result had more than a few Derby fans staging a protest outside Pride Park at Watson's management of the club.

Those dissenting voices grew only louder after a home defeat to Southampton five days later. Derby had an early Pizzaro goal disallowed for offside, and the Saints used that to their advantage as they scored either side of half time to take the points back to the south coast. After twenty minutes of the return leg against CSKA, it looked as if Rob might be strung up and hung with the Russian outift leading 1-0. And that was a lead they kept to the final whistle, pushing the tie into extra time. Thankfully for Watson, the agony of a penalty shoot out was saved when Dutch winger Romeo Castelan rifled in a volley from the edge of the area in the 112th minute.

Their first league game of November saw them face a trip North to Middlesbrough in search of three vital domestic points. And 87 minutes of dogged defence saw that they got them after Aiden McGeady had curled in a free kick in just the third minute of the match. The distraction of the League Cup was soon solved as Tottenham came to Pride Park and, despite Carl Medjani giving Derby an early lead, the Londoners triumphed 2-1 to advance through the the next stage. But the league momentum was maintained as Aston Villa called at Pride Park, and goals from Arturo Lupoli, Dean Ashton and Anton Ferdinand saw the Birmingham side off without any trouble whatsoever.

Another northern trip was next up as Derby faced Newcastle at St James' Park, and former Newcastle player Scott Parker got his new side off on the right foot with his seventh minute goal. Newcastle soon equalised, but second half goals from Pizzaro and Ashton made sure that Derby claimed another excellent three points to aide their climb up the table. Salernitana awaited them four days later in the UEFA Cup third round, the first leg being played at Pride Park. And it couldn't have gone any better for Rob's men as an Ashton double sent them into half time happ, and then goals from Hersi and McGeady completed an excellent night which all but put them through to the post-Christmas rounds.

The final game of November was a trip to face WBA at the Hawthorns, and a Claudio Pizzaro double, added to by Hidetoshi Nakata's thirty yard sceamer ensured that Derby moved further up the table in their bid to rebuild their season.