Derby County won their first Premiership game today, as they defeated a poor Newcastle 1-0 at Pride Park. A goal from Kenny Miller was enough to put an end to this boring affair and put Derby in 19th place, above a faltering Bolton. Newcastle now find themselves in 10th after failing to win this match which would have put them equal on points with 3rd place Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea.
Derby boss Billy Davies will be happy to have finally registered a win after suffering 4 losses and 1 draw in the Premiership. Big Sam on the other hand will be frustrated with one question: why can't Newcastle score? With a strike force of Michael Owen, Alan Smith, Obafemi Martins, and Shola Ameobi, you would think that finding the back of the net would be the least of the problems for Newcastle. Quite the contrary. Since the 3-1 opening day drubbing of Bolton, Allardyce's men have managed only 3 goals in 4 Premiership games.
Lineups:
Derby: Stephen Bywater; Claude Davis, Andy Griffin, Dean Leacock, Tyrone Mears; Eddie Lewis, Matt Oakley, Stephen Pearson, Gary Teale; Steve Howard, Kenny Miller
Newcastle: Steve Harper; Claudio Cacapa, David Rozenhal, Steven Taylor; Nicky Butt, Geremi, James Milner, Charles N'Zogbia; Shola Ameobi, Michael Owen, Alan Smith
Derby started well, with Steve Howard seeing a shot pushed out for a corner after only half a minute of play. The resulting corner was headed high and wide by Howard, but it was a shock warning for Newcastle.
Steve Harper was called into action again when Tyrone Mear's shot was parried away by the Newcastle 'keeper, after he had cut inside David Rozenhal.
Newcastle nearly replied when Rozenhal missed an open net from 12 yards out after a slick pass from Milner.
There was little entertainment as the two teams fought for the ball in the midfield, with a passionate Derby managing to nullify Newcastle's technically stronger players. Little entertainment, that is, until Kenny Miller unleashed a 35 yard shot which found the roof of Harper's goal. Miller's superb strike will certainly rival Adebayor's and Fabregas' goals for Arsenal against Tottenham on Saturday for the goal of the week, and maybe even goal of the month.
This was the end of the action for the first half, and little happened for the first few minutes of the second half either. Sam Allardyce, maybe trying to get a little entertainment value into the game, replaced Michael Owen with Nigerian ace Obafemi Martins in the 55th minute, but Martins was also unable to break through Derby.
Steven Taylor had one of the few clear chances of the second half, but again Newcastle failed to capitalize on a good chance as the defender failed to force a save.
The miss was repaid by Steve Howard twofold, as the Derby striker first headed the ball away from goal from 6 yards away. Soon after, a perfect pass from Teale found him in the box, but he again failed to force a save from an unmoving Steve Harper as he headed wide.
This was an unexciting match, but it was good to see Derby finally win a match. Good on you Derby fans, and shame on you Newcastle. Now lets see some real football. Look forwards to the Champions League tomorrow and Wednesday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment