DERBY COUNTY.............................................................. 3

Derby celebrate after Matej Vydra scores the third goal on a day Boro would rather forget

As a result, Boro were finding space – especially down the right – with Braithwaite’s movement and Downing’s vision giving Gary Rowett’s side plenty of headaches.

The chances were coming too, as exRam Christie’s long throw was flicked down by Ayala into the path of Britt Assombalonga, a striker looking for his sixth goal in as many games.

The surprise is that the net didn’t ripple, Boro’s No 9 showing quick reactions to stab the loose ball towards goal, only to be denied by an excellent low stop from Carson.

The crowd responded, but the home fans were left cursing their luck less than two minutes later as Derby opened the scoring against the run of play.

It was a devastating finish from Vydra, his ninth league goal of the season coming from a thunderous swing of his left foot after the visitors cut through the Boro lines.

Boro weren’t bad in the opening 45 minutes. They were the ones asking the questions, showing the initiative, but too often the team were hindered by poor decision-making and fine margins, nobody gambling on a flashing ball across the box. As Derby retreated early, clearly content to sit tight and snatch what they had, Boro had the bulk of the poss e s s i o n and terr i t o r y a n d c a r v e d out seve r a l h a l f - c h a n c - es. Assombalonga had his head in his hands as he glanced Downing’s corner just wide of the post, before Braithwaite fizzed a low cross across the face of goal – but Marvin Johnson wasn’t on the same wavelength and had not gambled at the back post.

Left-back Fabio then headed over before the break, a chance that should have been taken, but it was the visitors – attempting to take the sting out of the game at every opportunity – who headed into the dressing room with the lead.

For Monk, the dilemma was how to utilise Boro’s dominance down the right, with Downing in particular giving the Riverside supporters cause for optimism for the second half.

With Boro looking to continue where they left off, albeit with more poise in the final third, everyone expected more of the same.

But Derby caught Boro cold within two minutes of the restart as Nugent cut out a Braithwaite pass and quickly fed partner-in-crime Vydra, who ducked his shoulder and cut across Ayala before sprawling under the Spaniard’s rash challenge.

Referee Simon Hooper had no option but to point to the spot. In fact, the only decision he had to make was whether the infringement was severe enough for him to brandish a red card. He resisted despite a lengthy discussion, and Vydra’s spot-kick was emphatic as he sent Darren Randolph the wrong way to leave Boro in a world of pain.

They had every right to be fuming – two-nil down in a game in which they had been the aggressors for the most part, but lamenting two lapses of concentration that proved so costly again.

Tempers threatened to boil over as Fabio and Huddlestone were embroiled in a WWE-style grapple off the ball, with the outcome being a booking for both.

As Adama Traore replaced the inef- fectual Johnson in a bid to carry out another Riverside rescue mission, Boro needed calm heads.

But that hope was dashed as soon as Ayala had a rush of blood to the head and was given his marching orders.

It was a ridiculous challenge, right through the back of Nugent when on a booking. The only shock was that Ayala hadn’t already started his walk of shame before the card came out of the ref’s pocket.

A fuming Monk could barely look at his centre-back, enjoying a new lease of life and rediscovering his best form in recent weeks, as he trudged past him down the tunnel.

It was a moment of lunacy that made a tough afternoon a terrible one.

Derby capitalised, as you’d expect with a man advantage, but even their third goal was self-inflicted as Randolph’s routine mis-kick was skewed wildly and fell perfectly in the path of Vydra, who needed no second invitation to complete his hat-trick.

From there, it was damage limitation for Boro, with Monk withdrawing Braithwaite for defender Dael Fry as the gleeful Derby fans cheered every pass.

In fact, the only moment of note during a final painful 20 minutes came when Downing was replaced, with the applause heard around the ground telling you everything needed about his individual display.

But as a collective, Boro have some soul-searching to do. They faced adversity and were unfortunate to go two goals behind but then lost their cool – and the points.