Town boss Roy Keane said that the 2-0 home defeat to Derby once again showed that his side isn’t ready to seal a position in the top six. The loss saw the Blues drop to seventh in the Championship table.

Keane said: “I thought we threatened to win the game, we threatened to score goals, but on top of that we gave two really poor goals away.

“A couple of weeks ago when we had Coventry at home we thought ‘can we take the next step forward?’, but clearly we’re not ready for that. We’re not ready to cement ourselves as a top six team.

“It was an important game for us tonight and we didn’t take the opportunity. Credit to Derby, they defended well, they took their goals well and they’ll be happy with that. But from our point of view, you’ve got to take these opportunities.”

The Blues boss, who kept his players in their dressing room for just over an hour after the match, is concerned that the number of defeats has increased in recent weeks: “We’ve lost to QPR at home, Coventry, at Watford, at Reading. We’re losing lots of games. We’re winning a lot more than we were last year but we’re losing more as well. As much as we were disappointed with the run last year, a lot of those matches were draws.

“We’re a mixed bag at the moment. I think what we’ve got learn as a group is that when we’re not quite at it, like tonight when I don’t think we were, we have to grind out a result. And we’ve not done that.”

Keane says central defender Gareth McAuley will miss Saturday’s home game against Barnsley due to an achilles injury which had been affecting him prior to the game and forced him off in the second half.

Also out are skipper David Norris, who is a week away from a return due to the ankle injury he sustained in the game against Millwall, while Grant Leadbitter is suspended having reached five bookings.

The Blues boss says this will give other members of his squad an opportunity to impress: “There’s a lot of boys waiting in the wings - Luke Hyam, Troy Brown, Ronan Murray - and they’ll get their opportunity this weekend because we’ve got injuries and suspensions.

“And when we had injuries and suspensions at the start of the season these boys never let us down, so I look forward to these young boys playing on Saturday and putting a good shift in. It won’t guarantee we’ll win the game, but they’ll go out and give 100%, and it’ll be interesting.

“Darren O’Dea and Mark Kennedy were on the bench tonight, they’ll have a good training session tomorrow, go easy Thursday and I’ll have a look on Friday to see whether they’re ready to come back into the team because we need a few players who are streetwise, especially if we’re losing Grant and Gareth.”

Derby boss Nigel Clough was delighted with the win, but felt the opening period was close: “I think it was touch and go first half, very even. We had a couple of good chances, they had a couple of long range efforts, but I thought having gone in 0-0 at half-time we came out for 20 minutes or so and played very well indeed.

“That’s taking into account what we had out there, in terms of midfielders playing at full-back, full-backs playing at centre-half. A little lad from Ilkeston Town playing in midfield, Ben Pringle, making his fifth start and an injured centre-half coming on up front for the last 20 minutes.

“I thought it was an incredible effort by the players, given all that. Absolutely incredible, coming to such a good side and a difficult place.”

Photo: Action Images

SammyT added 09:23 - Nov 10 Feeling deflated after that display but still wanna back the boys and Keane all the way. Very interested in hearing from the people who sit directly in the middle of the North stand, behind the goal rows A-X. Why dont you sing dammit? Either side people are trying and you boys stand there with arms folded staring. To quote Braveheart (With a slight change) "Unite the Fans". Get involved. Its not just Keane and the players that need to improve and kick on..

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dirtydingusmagee added 09:24 - Nov 10 Right now the Norwich game is scary ! THAT IS A MUST WIN GAME. ! If Keane gets it wrong and we f;ck up ,that must surely bring curtain down.
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decentcanary added 09:25 - Nov 10 For the love of God PLEASE dont get rid of him until November 29th....
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StowTractorBoy added 09:30 - Nov 10 Sadly Eastman got well and truly found wanting and emphasises our need for a recognised right full back who can move forward as well as defend. We had absolutely no width whatsoever and yet Edwards who did provide what width we did have was taken off - incredible. Colback continues to drift inside and how we miss the Norris battling qualities when he does not play. We moan about playing 4-1-4-1 but if we had last night it would not have been any worse as we only played with one striker anyway - Connor was absolutely hopeless and hopes of him being a star 17 or not seem to be in doubt at the moment. Perhaps the injuries will freshen us up for Saturday but lets have some width and play Townsend on the left Edwards on the right with Hyam and Colback in the centre of midfield. Scotland and Priskin up front and lets really go at Barnsley. The crowd last night reflects what our supporters think of the current predicament inclement weather or not. 17 thousand plus is a poor turnout for such a crucial match and must be worrying for the hierarchy. Time for some deals I think.

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jas0999 added 09:32 - Nov 10 Such an unpredictable league. We are on par with most sides. We will win games, lose games and in the end no doubt be in and around the top 10. But inconsistency is a big problem. I still think we are a striker/right back light before we are ready to mount a decent challenge. Like others I was disappointed with the second half yesterday. Pretty poor. But calling for an 'experienced manager' when the team sits 7th, and the only side outside the Premiership in the last 8 of the Carling Cup - baffling. Interesting to see that a small handful of people failed to post after the three straight wins - but yet again after a defeat the same people are on here moaning. Unbelieveable.

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blrmy added 09:41 - Nov 10 Can we please have two threads per game - one for those who only post when we lose or win, and one to discuss with the whole season in mind?!
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bluelady added 09:42 - Nov 10 decent canary - great last minute goal last night!!!!!
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Bluestu added 09:42 - Nov 10 Very disappointed last night, 4 centre backs is not a good basis for building a side, yes we have had a couple of good results with them, but to be honest if sheff u had that thug Morgan playing he would of stopped both our goals against them. If you do have 4 centre backs then at the very least you need 2 wide midfielders to cretae something, i like Colback, a very talented player but he isn't a wide man, should of been townsend and edwards wide with colback and leadbitter in the middle. Very disappointed with wickham, he looked lethargic and disinterested last night, either he isn't fit or is paying too much attention to the newspapers. I think although we are doing better this season we are far from fixed, a lot of our wins have come against teams 'at the right time' i.e. Cardiff had no Bellamy when we played them, Bristol City gave us 2 goals courtesey of Calamity James, Middlesboro were in a 'strachen created' disarray. I am seriously concerned with the game against Norwich, although i don't think they have any real star players from what i have seen, they do try and pass it, play up tempo with lots of energy and have a good spirit.

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bobble added 09:47 - Nov 10 tiring stuff listening to mr keanes continuous excuses.think we have had enough its being on to long we going nowhere
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MAVERICK added 09:53 - Nov 10 Roy, sounds like your giving up on your 2 year plan then, while some of us are still trying to keep faith !
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AFCC added 10:08 - Nov 10 It was quite clear from a very early stage last night that our setup just wasn't working, we had a 10-15 minute spell in the first half where the movement was quite good and we created a handful of half chances but 15mins out of 90 is unacceptable. Eastman & Smith were both shocking in their full back roles (and I cant believe how shocking Eastman is at passing!) when lacking width we took off our only winger in a like for like substitution which saw Townsend on the wrong side of the pitch and even with 3 up top for half an hour we still had no creativity in the final third. Townsend was arguably Town's best performer last night and only played a third of the game. No width, no imagination, poor possesion, no passion! Not the worst game I've seen but a chance to really push on a cement our place in the top 6, lost. Why was the long ball always aimed at Priskin? surely it should be on the head of the big lad Wickham to flick on for Priskin to run onto. I actually feel that Priskin had plenty of movement last night but a very poor touch. With Leadbitter, Norris & Mac all out I would like to see the following against Barnsley... Fullop Peters Delaney O'Dea Kennedy Edwards Livermore Colback Townsend Scotland Wickham

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naa added 10:11 - Nov 10 Another strange night. Signs of some nice football but we still can't keep possession well and we are desperately lacking width. Colback is a great central midfielder, he is not a great wide player. With Clough admitting they had player out of position at full-back why are we not attacking them with width? I thought Priskin did fairly well, as did Scotland when he came on, but the signs were there when Scotland kept dropping deep for the ball. There's just no quality when coming forward from midfield. Im not going to hark on about Garvan, as I don't feel we miss him that much, but we are missing someone with the ability and eye for a decent forward pass, especially when we don't have any width. And what's the idea about 4 centre-halves? It clearly isn't shoring up the defence, but it is restricting us going forward. And another worrying Keane comment, basically saying that if we're not doing that well, stop trying and just grind it out. Tonight's problem wasn't that we were off form, but it was the lack of proper tactics against our opponents. And considering that we conceded on 55 mins (to a deflected free-kick) is he saying we should have ground out the whole second half? After all, it was fairly evben after the first half. That kind of comment just doesn't make much sense to me.

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bluelady added 10:12 - Nov 10 AFCC agree with all except the back four - thats 3 left footed players wont work - swap O'Dea to left back and put in Eastman or even Troy Brown at right centre back. Also no way would i drop prisken, been one of our best players last few games and with the creativity of Townsend will score without a doubt so would revert to the partnership that was working well of Scotland and Prisken (why oh why did he drop Scotland??). Wickham needs minutes but 30 - 40 mins second half when we are on top is much better than starting him in a side when he isnt sharpe.

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OldClactonBlue added 10:13 - Nov 10 Time to go then. We've had to wait for the RK way and prsonally I do not like it at all. The style we play might keep us in this division but will never enable us to compete with football teams. Are the midfielders we get in not capable of getting the ball down and passing it, or is that what they have drilled into them. The suggestion that they should be practising passing to someone in the same coloured shirt was considered flippant, but it's actually the root of the problem.

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dirtydingusmagee added 11:04 - Nov 10 OldClactonBlue, is right,we seem to have lost the ''passing game'' We have always played that way until R K arrived,we have one of the best if not THE best playing surfaces in Division,but dont play it to our advantage , either the players we have arent capable of passing or they are not being sent out to play that way.We all say we have no width,yet week in week out they play the same thing a midfield block,everyone in same area doing same thing getting in each others way.We need width ,to make some space , nothing is being created at moment,we just dont look fluid at all now.

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vulcher added 11:04 - Nov 10 Good first half, and if we wud have taken our chances we wud have won the game. 4 centre backs in defence doesn't work and that showed with the lack of width at poor performance from eastman and smith, however some of the fans should be ashamed on themselves for getting on eastmans back. Mcauley and delaney were stand out performers. Poor game for wickham and I don't think scotland looked all that interested when he came on. Need to put it right against barnsley! Coyb

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bicesterblue added 11:08 - Nov 10 lost to coventry,watford qpr,derby' what does that tell us all not top 6 time to go mr keane
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gypo added 11:13 - Nov 10 Simples they over ran us in midfield savage done exectly what carsley did for coventry ghosted around picking out balls and passes should have gone 3-5-2
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StowTractorBoy added 11:14 - Nov 10 The other thing I failed to mention was that I thought Livermore was shocking last night and nicely set up Shefki which thank heavens fell on his left foot. v Barnsley Fulop Peters Brown Delaney O'Dea Edwards Hyam Colback Townsend Scotland Priskin This is a balanced team with round pegs in round holes so Keano will obviously not go with that.
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hogster1970 added 11:20 - Nov 10 yep totaly disapointing second half, first half was ok well the middle 15 20 mins was good any how, but yes totaly agree tatics were totaly wrong last night. think conner prob is lack of games it was his first 90 mins all season took him a while last year to get established but was on fire for the last few games, priskin is playing well now. but defo go with the team above but i think smith and delany in the back four though defo got to start with andros on the left with colbeck center left. priskin and scotland start then take of scotland for whickam as dont think he has any puff left after 60 mins

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bluearmy4life added 11:49 - Nov 10 I don't think there is any need to panic just yet. There is so much football to be played. Dissapointing result and general display last night but 3 wins in the next 3 games would be fcukn fantastic. They have proved earlier on in the season that we can be consistent when we want to be but its up to Roy and the staff to bring this out of the team. COYB
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whoppit added 12:19 - Nov 10 Let us be honest here. We are a mediocre team with a mediocre manager. A mediocre manager who stated when he took over that any idiot can get promoted from the Championship. Now he says we are not good enough for the top 6. And whose fault is this exactly??? I think he has 4 games left to turn things around and I really can't see us beating Barnsley, Hull, Budgies or WBA. I think there may even be a few thrashings in there too that shall surely end Keane's tenure. Even the bloody Budgie's love him and certain fans on here still refuse to part with their beloved "big name" manager who is clearly a dip$hit in disguise. Marcus, Keane has demonstrated that he cannot cut it as a football manager so it is time to get rid of !!!!!!!!!

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Papa added 12:29 - Nov 10 It does amuse me that lots of fans come out and say 'where were you moaners when we won?' Quite simply, you dont moan when you win. I moan about Keane, I dont think he is up to the job but it doesnt mean I dont want him to do well and that I'm not happy when we win. However, we arent going to do anything this season or any season under Keane. I watch us play and I can never quite tell what the game plan is - I'm not convinced we ever have one! We have some good players in that side and thats the only reason we're doing ok. In my eyes after 10 million spent, ok is not good enough. Keane is not good enough with his selections and tactics and I cant see us ever going up with him in charge, at least not deservedly so anyway.

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PSGBlue added 12:35 - Nov 10 Didn't make last nights match as I'm stuck in the Outer hebrides until Friday, what I would give though to get Keane on a one way ticket here! Although can't judge on last nights performance this season is following the end of last season. We are unable to beat top six teams (except Cardiff as per last season), only getting three points off poor teams (Middlesbrough, Sheff Utd, Bristol City etc..). So we are on course to finish 8th - 14th, no improvement on Magilton's final season despite Keane having money to spend. Four defeats from the last six league games says it all, its time for Keane to go and give someone a go. Keane Out!!

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cracko82 added 12:49 - Nov 10 Extremely dissapointing result. Each time we look as if we are ready to kick on we take another step back. Worrying for me is we have lost 4 of the last 6 league games (or 5 in last 8) which looks more relegation form on paper. Still, it shows how tight the league is that we are still 7th following such a dissapointing month or so. No consistency at all, although its better than the draws we had last season. We are traditionally a better team after xmas so hoping we can stay in touch with the top 6 and strengthen in January & go on a solid run. COYB

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