Derby County crashed out of the FA Cup Third Round after a penalty shootout defeat at Leyton Orient.
The fixture had been set to be played on Saturday, January 11, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch. Derby’s team selection benefitted, with players who had been hit by illness last week available once more.
But this wasn’t enough to see the Rams past League One’s form team, who put in a battling display before six brilliant penalties earned them the right to host Premier League Champions Manchester City.
In what was a fast-paced opening, the hosts started confidently: Diallang Jaiyesimi attempting an overhead kick inside two minutes.
Tottenham loanee Jamie Donley also saw an effort saved for the O’s while Kane Wilson was Derby’s main attacking threat on the right.
Orient took the lead in the 20th minute. After Craig Forsyth headed a corner away at the near post, Derby switched off in the second phase, allowing the hosts to attack down the right, from where Sonny Perkins found Charlie Kelman, who made no mistake in acres of space.
The Rams were level just four minutes later, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing leaving his marker on the floor as he cut inside from the right and slipped the ball to Marcus Harness in the box. He made a perfectly timed diagonal run to get in behind and squared the ball to Dajaune Brown, making his first start in a month, who calmly slotted the ball under Josh Keeley for his second goal of the season.
A well-timed Nat Phillips tackle stopped a menacing Orient move in the 45th minute, but they would still find time for two golden opportunities.
First Sonny Perkins got in behind Forsyth and squared the ball to Sean Clare, who blazed a golden opportunity over the bar before Donley did the same on the volley from another good position.
Sandwiched in between, a chance for Mendez-Laing from a Harness cross, but the Derby skipper headed it straight into Keeley’s hands.
At the break, two Derby changes. Liam Thompson made way for Ebou Adams, returning from a concussion, while Nat Phillips was replaced by left back Callum Elder. The man who had replaced him in the starting XI, Craig Forsyth, had struggled with the pace of Perkins out wide but would now play as a centre back.
Making just his third appearance in two months, Corey Blackett-Taylor took the chance to impress in the second half.
Brown held the ball up well and, found Blackett-Taylor on the half-turn, whose powerful effort was tipped over the bar for the Rams’ first corner before his header rattled the woodwork.
Though the duo would soon be removed, their replacements Kayden Jackson and Tom Barkhuizen linking up as the latter rattled the cross bar with 13 minutes to play.
As the 90-minute mark neared, the game became the antithesis of the opening stages. It was slow and laboured: extra time felt inevitable.
Derby started the additional 30 minutes with a renewed energy and though James Collins’ header was poor, they were finally getting the substitute into the game.
But a prolonged stoppage due to an injury to Orient defender Jack Simpson took the wind out of the visitors’ sails.
In the final 15 minutes, further mistakes crept in as the game trudged towards spot-kicks. Jack Currie connected with a lovely Donley ball, only to have mistimed his run, while Derby botched a free kick routine after Sean Clare received his second yellow card, and Collins failed to take advantage when Keeley spilled Wilson’s cross.
A final chance fell to avoid a shootout fell to Ebou Adams with seconds to play, but he drilled a volley narrowly wide from 15 yards out.
From the spot, 10 excellent penalties took the shoot-out to sudden death. Elder then saw his effort saved before Zech Obiero ensured that Pep Guardiola and co. will be visiting Brisbane Road.
Analysis: Is pressure mounting?
The volume of questions levelled at Paul Warne is getting both larger and louder.
A second cup exit at the hands of lower-league opposition this season, and yet again, substitutions appeared not to help Derby but hinder them. While it was always unlikely that the Rams would beat Manchester City, missing out on the opportunity to face some of the world’s best would have been a huge occasion.
More importantly, it would have been a money-spinner for a club that desperately needs reinforcements this month and is operating on a relatively tight budget.
Championship survival is obviously Derby’s priority, but with just four wins in their last 21 league games, and the gap between Warne’s side and Portsmouth in 22nd now just four points nerves have been jangling.
Compounding this, the fact that some Championship clubs have been doing their transfer business, while Derby are yet to make a signing.
Rams fans have long been divided on Warne, some wanting ‘better’ football, even as they won promotion, and others very conscious of the fact that the club were only brought back from the brink two-and-a-half years ago.
While survival would surely be a successful season in the eyes of most, I get the sense that many fans are now rather disapproving of the head coach - on social media, at least.
Would there have been quite as much outcry had the Rams not known who they would face in the next round? Maybe not.
It does feel as though fans need a boost. New signings reportedly on the horizon, including Norwegian striker Lars-Jørgen Salvesen, and a win against Watford, who themselves are in poor form, would provide that.
If that doesn’t happen, and the online sentiment spills into the stands, pressure will only increase.
Derby (4-2-3-1): Zetterström (GK); Wilson, Nelson, Phillips (Elder 46’), Forsyth; Thompson (Adams 46’), Goudmijn; Mendez-Laing (C) (Collins 75’), Harness, Blackett-Taylor (Jackson 67’); Brown (Barkhuizen 68’).
Substitutes not used: Vickers (GK), Osborn, Rooney, Osong.
Leyton Orient (4-2-3-1): Keeley (GK); Clare, Simpson (Cooper 101’), Beckles, Currie; Pratley (C) (Brown 62’), Jaiyesimi (James 71’); Perkins (Obiero 101’), Donley, Galbraith; Kelman.
Substitutes not used: Phillips (GK), Sweeney, Wellens, Carter, Hambury.
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