| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park 22:39 - Feb 7 with 2084 views | unstableblue |
Now that was an away day to savour.
Arriving in heavy rain for a 12.30 kick off (Sky were ‘questioned’ in song by the blue army), with Derby in form and Town seemingly wobbling - with poor form on the road - me and some fellow blues were not feeling bullish.
But there was singing in the rain in the turnstile queue, and more on the concourse under the away corner - a taste of the support to come.
Very officious stewards at Pride Park, and the away end is actually segregated in two parts with no official crossing over. But bar staff friendly and quickish. Heading out onto the terraces (safe standing of scale). As we waited for the teams to come out the singing built nicely.
And then John Eustace the rams manager did us a favour. He sat them super deep with no press up field. And Town quickly settled, passed with a bit more pace and the dye was set - the locals were silenced and the massed blue ranks got fully fired up. And for much of the game it was just a smorgasbord of Town anthems. Great variety throughout and sung en masse and with gusto.
We needed the town fans to turn up and perform and they did, none of the recent grumbles. And McKenna and the players similarly decided to have a good day at the office with a strong performance.
The headlines are of course:
- Travis scores a bizarrely clinical own goal, getting sent off at the end of the game - “he’s a blue”
- Town fail to get the second to kill the game, despite dominating for most of the first half and carving out real chances
- Matusiwa puts in another brilliant performance that could have been marred by a soft penalty
- but a Mehmeti and McAteer interplay sets up a cracking header for soon to be father Leif Davis
But I wanted to pick out some other observations and aligned thoughts:
- that was a tough game, pitch was rough, Derby are a piece of work, and we could have easily faltered but we kept our composure after their goal - our own dark arts master Furlong, and some other clever moments took the game away from the hosts
- OShea was an unsung hero today (albeit there was the new Daragh Daragh, Daragh Daragh song), he was brilliantly athletic, kept them at bay
- Mehmeti was perhaps the difference maker - some of his early passing was a bit off, then he grew into it, and what I really liked is that he is a #10 who prowls across the entire front of the box. Huge upgrade on Chaplin.
- in OSheas excellent post match interview (check McKennas as well which are sublime) he talks about two things Mehmeti is bringing an energy and enthusiasm to training, as well as Neil (who’s als good mates with Jack Clarke)
- mehmeti links very well with Burns (who should score from a sublime Mehmeti pass) and then McAteer… from multiple town interviews it’s clear McAteer is working his ‘arse off’ (to quote Davis in training… and his cross and work on the sublime winner was excellent. Egeli is really down the pecking order which seems a shame, but we need these very effective players to start
- Neil looks a serious player, he is a talker and organiser and moves the game forward and quickly - really impressed
- Azon did some lovely things early in the game - Chested lay off for one. But he and Hirst look goal shy. Akpom looked immediately more dangerous when coming on
But I wanted to end on one point - McKennas enthusiasm and respect towards the away end seemed genuine and passionate. He was impressed by the backing, and we were impressed by the performance.
It was much needed performance and away win. Topped off with wobbles for Coventry and Hull. And great to take that win into the FA cup break.
Felt great to be a blue today. Now let’s take that atmosphere back to the North Stand. [Post edited 8 Feb 9:20]
|  |
| |  |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 22:58 - Feb 7 with 1929 views | SitfcB |
A good round up, felt good today.
On the stewards, yes thought they were a bit over zealous with the ticket checking but guess it may be a safety requirement because of the stated no separation of the tiers, perhaps some permanent barriers/gates would help and they could stop all that as it’s pretty annoying sometimes. |  |
| |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 00:00 - Feb 8 with 1705 views | armchaircritic59 |
There was something about everything today, that just looked " right ". Maybe the strange week leading up to the game has bought everyone together again. If so, more of it please! |  | | |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 00:21 - Feb 8 with 1608 views | football |
Felt a huge three points
What a great atmosphere in the away end - best for a while | | | |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 06:37 - Feb 8 with 1345 views | LA_Tractor_Boy |
Felt like a massive win yesterday, especially with Coventry wobbling and Hull losing.
We're not going to win every match between now and the end of the season, but please Town don't take 2 steps back in our next match as has so often been the case this season.
Fortunately it doesn't look like 90+ points will be needed for top 2, so we just need to be consistent and play to our capabilities for the next 16 matches. | | | |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 07:21 - Feb 8 with 1237 views | noggin |
Seen a few Derby fans stating Town were the best away support at PP for a long time. Well done to everyone who went. |  |
| |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 07:42 - Feb 8 with 1128 views | Blue_Heath |
Great post but why just to the north stand, should be all stands! | |
| |
| I got a proper…. on 08:15 - Feb 8 with 941 views | Bloots |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 22:58 - Feb 7 by SitfcB |
A good round up, felt good today.
On the stewards, yes thought they were a bit over zealous with the ticket checking but guess it may be a safety requirement because of the stated no separation of the tiers, perhaps some permanent barriers/gates would help and they could stop all that as it’s pretty annoying sometimes. |
….”frisking” on the way in, put the Portman Road stewards to shame.
Made me take my cap off and everything, not sure he needed to pay quite as much attention to my groin area though!
Dogs were friendly too. |  |
| "The holy trinity” - TWTD User (Jan 2026) |
| |
| I got a proper…. on 09:40 - Feb 8 with 627 views | unstableblue |
| I got a proper…. on 08:15 - Feb 8 by Bloots |
….”frisking” on the way in, put the Portman Road stewards to shame.
Made me take my cap off and everything, not sure he needed to pay quite as much attention to my groin area though!
Dogs were friendly too. |
Hey Bloots…
Yes a proper frisking unlike the token efforts at Portman Road.
And what was with the marking of tickets to get up to the terraces and then rechecking every time you headed back up. Not exactly sure what that achieved.
Having said that of the ‘indentikit’ grounds like St Mary’s, Reading, Hull et al… like Sunderland it kind of works, and we managed to generate quite the away end. Terrible location though. | |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| Whooooooa Derby fan forum has been to another dimension on 09:47 - Feb 8 with 598 views | unstableblue |
- They’re seeing it as one of the worst refereeing display for some time
- A stonewall penalty not given
- The short injury time being some travesty
- And that Town are the masters of the dark arts, sh!thousery, with Leif the chief culprit
- Never two yellows for Travis
- And although many think we deserved to win, there are quite a number thought they played well and deserved a draw
Somewhat surreal - but with some nuggets of truth
- injury time did seem short
- the ref was as usual rubbish - but it was both ways
- maybe Town did use the dark arts, something we are naive on normally - but come on Derby were absolutely appalling on that front at PR earlier in the season
But we were by far the better side on the day, despite the home side’s spells of pressure, and a win was fully deserved - 1-3 was the right score line | |
| |
| Whooooooa Derby fan forum has been to another dimension on 10:16 - Feb 8 with 438 views | Dennyx4 |
| Whooooooa Derby fan forum has been to another dimension on 09:47 - Feb 8 by unstableblue |
- They’re seeing it as one of the worst refereeing display for some time
- A stonewall penalty not given
- The short injury time being some travesty
- And that Town are the masters of the dark arts, sh!thousery, with Leif the chief culprit
- Never two yellows for Travis
- And although many think we deserved to win, there are quite a number thought they played well and deserved a draw
Somewhat surreal - but with some nuggets of truth
- injury time did seem short
- the ref was as usual rubbish - but it was both ways
- maybe Town did use the dark arts, something we are naive on normally - but come on Derby were absolutely appalling on that front at PR earlier in the season
But we were by far the better side on the day, despite the home side’s spells of pressure, and a win was fully deserved - 1-3 was the right score line |
What about the Derby dark arts, the keeper went down injured in the 2nd minute, because the centre half had a nose bleed and was off the pitch. To stop them from having to play with 10 men.
I don’t think the keeper had even touched the ball at that point. |  | | |
| BANG ON on 10:30 - Feb 8 with 357 views | unstableblue |
| Whooooooa Derby fan forum has been to another dimension on 10:16 - Feb 8 by Dennyx4 |
What about the Derby dark arts, the keeper went down injured in the 2nd minute, because the centre half had a nose bleed and was off the pitch. To stop them from having to play with 10 men.
I don’t think the keeper had even touched the ball at that point. |
I had meant to mention that incident in my matchday musings
It was so blatant, the keeper hadn’t even been active
My concern and those around me, was whether it would slow the momentum we were building
Thankfully we just carried on - we had the right mind set yesterday | |
| |
| Thoughts and observations from a rockin away end at Pride Park on 11:54 - Feb 8 with 214 views | Overtheborderblue |
A great away show from the ITFC fans , I wonder if the fact more couples ,families, friends and youngsters being able to go due to the larger ticket allocation giving lower away points supporters the chance to attend helped the atmosphere, | | | |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
