POUNDING IN WALES FOR RAMS
DERBY County crashed to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Cardiff City in South Wales.
A much-changed Rams side was second-best in all areas and can have no complaints about the outcome on a thoroughly miserable night for them.
Indeed, the margin of defeat could have been wider.
The team news raised a few eyebrows, as manager Wayne Rooney made six changes to the side that drew with Nottingham Forest on Friday night.
First-choice goalkeeper David Marshall missed out due to the back problem he picked up in the Forest game and so Kelle Roos started.
Rooney also brought in George Edmundson, Teden Mengi, Louie Sibley, Lee Gregory and Beni Baningime. Out went Nathan Byrne, Max Bird, Jason Knight, Martyn Waghorn and Colin Kazim-Richards.
It was Baningime’s first start since the midfielder joined the Rams on loan from Everton on transfer deadline day.
The Rams went into the contest nine points clear of the bottom three, while Cardiff’s revival under manager Mick McCarthy had been impressive. The Bluebirds were 15th when he took charge, but they had taken 21 points from a possible 27 before facing Derby.
The fixture was the first of three consecutive away games for Derby.
They play Coventry City at St Andrew’s on Saturday and then Barnsley at Oakwell.
Derby lined up in a 4-1-4-1 shape, with Mengi alongside Matt Clarke at centre-back, Andre Wisdom and Lee Buchanan in the full-back positions and Edmundson in a holding midfield role in front of the defence.
Set plays and long throws are a strength of Cardiff and Derby almost paid the price when they failed to deal with Will Vaulks’ throw-in but, fortunately, Kieffer Moore wasted a good chance when he lifted his volley over.
Graeme Shinnie’s low shot was pushed behind by Dillon Phillips as Derby looked to ask questions of their hosts, but Cardiff’s in-form striker Moore was finding good positions and he headed narrowly wide after a run from Sheyi Ojo had the Rams at full stretch.
The ball struck Clarke’s hand as he slid in to challenge Ojo in the area but the referee waved away shouts for a penalty.
Two let-offs for Derby, two warnings they did not heed and they fell behind after 22 minutes. Joe Bennett had all the time in the world to roll a pass into Leandro Bacuna’s unchecked run and he slotted his finish low past Roos.
Nobody tracked Bacuna and it was poor defending all round.
Gaps appeared defensively and Moore found another, stepping inside and curling a shot inches wide of the far post as the home side continued their positive start.
There was a lengthy hold-up as Bennett received treatment. The Cardiff defender went down with nobody near him and was clearly in some pain. It looked to be a knee injury and he was carried off on a stretcher.
Cardiff kept finding space and Ojo, in an in-challenged surge, drove a shot straight at Roos before a goalmouth scramble brought half a chance for Ojo. His effort was deflected wide.
The half-time whistle was welcome for Derby because they could have been three down. A rethink was needed.
There were no changes to the team at the break, surprisingly, and Derby found themselves two down after only three minutes of the second half.
Cardiff’s likng for set-pieces is no
secret but they caught Derby napping. Vaulks delivered a corner and Moore was allowed to run towards the near post and head home unchallenged for his 16th goal of the season. Where was the marking? Cardiff took advantage of more loose defending to score a third after 56 minutes. Ojo got in behind Wisdom and the ball was worked to Bacuna who, with no one closing him down, curled a fine left-foot finish beyond Roos. Game over. Derby made four changes with a little over 20 minutes left. On came Bird, Waghorn, Louie Watson and Kornell McDonald for Shinnie, Sibley, Jozwiak and Wisdom. Waghorn forced a stop from Phillips, who had to push a curling free kick behind. It was only the second save made by the under-worked home keeper on what was a night to forget for Derby. Vaulks put the icing on the cake for Cardiff when he struck a spectacular goal from 25 yards in added time to make it 4-0 and complete Derby’s misery.