Jack Bryan is a football writer and life long Derby County supporter.
On Tuesday night, Derby put in one of their best performances of the season, beating Hull City 3-1, and causing us Rams fans, as well as others, to once again look at the table.
Despite Hull being the better side for the opening quarter of an hour, it was the Rams who took the lead. Craig Forsyth headed in Jason Knight’s cross at the back post, to mark his 250th Rams appearance with a rare goal. Skipper Tom Lawrence made it two in the 38th minute. Festy Ebosele’s shot was saved by Matt Ingram, but he parried it in the direction of Lawrence. The Welshman took a brilliant touch to take the ball away from the keeper and squeeze the ball into the goal.
Within two minutes of the second half starting, the score was 3-0. Festy Ebosele, who was a handful all game, shooting across goal and slotting the ball into the bottom left corner. A good finish, with an equally impressive acrobatic celebration.
The Tigers clawed one back with twenty five minutes to play, Craig Forsyth getting the final touch on Brandon Fleming’s low ball into the box, and turning the ball into his own net. From this point, Hull were in the game again, and they did have a few late chances, Derby having to scramble the ball out of their box on multiple occasions. But truth be told, the home team still seemed fairly confident, the most nerve-wracking moment being when Krystian Bielik, making his first start in over a year, went down injured. The former Arsenal man did have to be substituted, but should be back for Saturday’s game at Middlesbrough, as he suffered only a cut to the head.
Derby were very impressive overall, with left back Lee Buchanan doing very well at centre back, filling in for the suspended Richard Stearman, and behind him, Ryan Allsopp made some great saves. Jason Knight and Max Bird, making his 100th Derby appearance, showed their quality and work rate in the midfield, and the same can be said for Nathan Byrne; the right back who Rooney admits often goes unnoticed, despite being ‘solid every game.’ The linkup between he, and Ebosele who won man of the match, was key for Derby, with their electrifying pace giving Hull no time to rest. I could go on, and praise the entire team, and this is what creates an intriguing dynamic.
Derby are 23rd, but in a way, they’re not. Rooney’s side have picked up seventeen points from the last nine league games, practically promotion form. Although they hadn’t won in the three games prior to the visit of Hull, the Rams are now only four points behind 21st place Reading, and three behind Peterborough in 22nd, albeit with the aforementioned teams having a game, or two in the case of Peterborough, in hand. Derby are also in much better form than the two teams sitting directly above, with neither of them having won a league game in 2022.
Is the great escape on? That may well depend on the situation off the pitch, but we can certainly dream.
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