Back from the stream (Derby)

[Man Friday]

So what's the point of drawing attention to someone's skin colour? Ignoramus.

[Lacoste]

TBF It wasn't a racist comment. I was simply implying that the comments I put about Obita, directly above, were valid for Blackman also. That he's not a winger etc.

[John Peel]

Mods, are you going to do anything about the Blackman comment?

[Royality creeps In]

TBF It wasn't a racist comment. I was simply implying that the comments I put about Obita, directly above, were valid for Blackman also. That he's not a winger etc.

I love watching internet trolls squirm.
Not so gobby now are we sonny!

[MouldyRoyal]

Yeah I am sure he actually gives a shit...

[RoyallyFcuked]

So the good feeling I had about this game came true. To those of you that watched on a stream, hope you have a decent excuse for not going. £15 a ticket and there were still seats left, you could have come. You missed out, big time.

It was the first time I'd seen us under Clarke and I could definitely see the improvement, particularly in defence. Not perfect by any means but they seem more confident in knowing what their roles are. A bit too much time and room for the Derby players for their goal though. Kelly was the stand out but none of them had a bad game. Feds made a couple of good saves but at times his kicking and clearances were poor and inaccurate.

We started off a bit shakily and Derby had the better of it in the first half, although overall in the game we probably created more clear cut chances. They may feel hard done by but it genuinely felt for much of it the ref was giving everything to them, some soft bookings and free kicks were given away, they had about 4 free kicks around the edge of our box which thankfully didnt come to much.
Although they can have no arguements over the red card, two definite bookable offences. Wouldn't say the red card changed the game but we came out for the second half looking more up for it. McClaren said they still went for the win which probably helped us as well. After our first goal we started to look in control for the first time so when they equalised I got worried that heads would drop and about our "can't beat 10 men syndrome", but credit to the lads because after that I always felt we still had a good chance to nick the win.

The midfield has certainly been bolstered by the signing of Chalobah who did make a couple of mistakes but also made some intelligent passes, which is exactly what our team needed. I'd say him and Williams are our strongest CM pairing when both fit and on form. HRK had one of his better days, brilliantly taken goal and a great pass (which I was desperately hoping he would make) for the Yak's goal. Mackie wasn't too bad although at times a bit frustrating and should probably have scored with the rebound from Pog's header but sliced the volley wide which ended up being his last touch of the game.

And the strikers well, Cox played fairly well and got a good assist but was let down by his finishing. His shot from the quick free kick routine that hit the post he definitely should have hit first time and the volley that he blazed over was a great chance that went begging, if he got it on target it would have been a goal.

I was looking forward to seeing the Pogrebnyak that many of you have said has been playing so well but once again after watching him live I remain unconvinced. He had a couple of nice touches including a back heel to start a fast break just after our first goal but there were too many times where he was just too slow. A couple of times he thought the ball would run to him and waited for it but a Derby player would nip in and steal possession. He also won little in the air and the one chance he had he headed pretty much straight at the keeper, but I guess in fairness it was a decent save.

Really pleased for Yakubu, he showed a bit of class when he came on and gave us exactly what we needed. One chance, one goal. The big man hasn't lost his touch, his first involvement was to make a great turn and forward pass out wide to set up an attack. He took his goal expertly, one touch to set it up for himself and keep it away from the defender before lashing it straight into the bottom corner to send us wild. Got a great video of the reaction just after the goal on my phone. The "Feed the Yak" chant was great after he scored!

Our fans were in decent voice throughout, some good banter between us and the Derby fans, mostly at the start. We also came out on top in this clash by being as witty as ever. Our response to them singing "Shall we sing a song for you" with little reason a few minutes in was "Worst team in history" and "Ohhh Bobby Zamora"

Glad to see the players come over and clap the fans at the end, nice to see Yakubu's smile and we gave him another chorus of "Feed the Yak" to his delight. But POTS? Feds might want to take a leaf out of Hahnemann's book, he was the only RFC player straight down the tunnel at the final whistle. Anyway, all in all a great day out. Bradford away next please, second choice probably Villa away. Lets get to Wembley! URZZZZZ

[melonhead]

TBF It wasn't a racist comment. I was simply implying that the comments I put about Obita, directly above, were valid for Blackman also. That he's not a winger etc.

That makes no sense u daft racist

[Elm Park Old Boy]

To those of you that watched on a stream, hope you have a decent excuse for not going. £15 a ticket and there were still seats left, you could have come. You missed out, big time.

It was the first time I'd seen us under Clarke...

Taking these two statements together, I'm not sure we need the lecture on missing one game.
But thanks for the lengthy write-up, and glad you enjoyed it.

[Royals and Racers]

To those of you that watched on a stream, hope you have a decent excuse for not going. £15 a ticket and there were still seats left, you could have come. You missed out, big time.

It was the first time I'd seen us under Clarke...

Taking these two statements together, I'm not sure we need the lecture on missing one game.
But thanks for the lengthy write-up, and glad you enjoyed it.

Especially as he had missed Clarke`s 1st 11 games !!!!

[RoyallyFcuked]

To those of you that watched on a stream, hope you have a decent excuse for not going. £15 a ticket and there were still seats left, you could have come. You missed out, big time.

It was the first time I'd seen us under Clarke...

Taking these two statements together, I'm not sure we need the lecture on missing one game.
But thanks for the lengthy write-up, and glad you enjoyed it.

Haha, I did think that after I wrote it but thought fcuk it I'll leave it like this. Would be different if I still had an ST of course, but thanks for pointing it out I didnt mean for it to sound like a like a lecture. I should have said "Then again, it was the first time I'd seen us under Clarke..."

As for the write up, no problem. Hope you enjoyed it

Especially as he had missed Clarke`s 1st 11 games !!!!

Yes I think that was point he was making...

[TBM]

Did any else notice that pathetic derby fan on the right of us who got a sign out when they scored saying something along the lines off "Reading Relegated 2007/08" " Fulham +3 better GD"....Quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen at a football match purely because he was so proud of himself afterwards like we were emotional hurt by it.

Did he forget they only got 11pts that season!?

[Pepe the Horseman]

Yeah I am sure he actually gives a shit...

Hi Mouldy. EiL was asking after you over on AE. You ok?