Chris Martin’s second half goal saw Derby to a 1-0 victory over the Blues at Portman Road. Martin seized on a Tommy Smith error in the 57th minute to win the game for the Rams, who had John Eustace sent off late on.

Cole Skuse missed out through illness with Luke Hyam taking his place in Town's central midfield, while Tyrone Mings starting at left-back for Jonny Parr was the only other change from the team which lined-up against Charlton in Town’s last league game.

Ex-Blue Darren Bent was amongst Derby’s subs, while former Town academy schoolboy and ballboy Richard Keogh skippered the Rams.

In gusty conditions, Town went close to going in front in the third minute when David McGoldrick played Jay Tabb in behind the Derby defence on the left of the area with a superb cross-field pass. But the midfielder’s low shot was saved by Rams keeper Lee Grant and Daryl Murphy’s rebound was blocked.

The Rams dominated the early possession but without threatening Bartosz Bialkowski’s goal and on 14 Town went close again. McGoldrick played the ball into Murphy’s feet on the edge of the box, the Town top scorer laying it back to the former Forest striker, who hit a powerful curling shot over.

Derby created their first opportunity in the 15th minute, Jordan Ibe cutting a ball across from the left and finding Jeff Hendrick, whose shot was blocked. Cyrus Christie’s rebound flew well wide.

A minute later, Tommy Smith was booked for tripping a Johnny Russell when in full-flight breaking towards the area. Russell curled the freekick wide.

The Rams had much the better of the next 10 minutes or so, continuing to have most of the ball, but without creating a further opportunity.

On 26 McGoldrick worked himself space on the edge of the box but his shot was deflected over. From the resultant corner Murphy nodded it down but McGoldrick was unable to turn goalwards. Three minutes later, Anderson hit a speculative effort from distance well wide.

John Eustace was booked for pulling back McGoldrick as Town broke in the 39th minute with the game not really having lived up to its billing. Following the freekick, McGoldrick helped create an opening for Murphy wide on the left but his strike from a tight angle flew over.

In the 43rd minute Berra made a superb saving challenge on Russell as the Scottish international shot having broken into the area.

There was a flare-up between McGoldrick and Eustace a minute before the end of the half when the Rams midfielder barged the Town striker while off the ball as Town broke, the Irish international striker catching the former Watford man as he fell.

Referee Kevin Wright bizarrely gave the freekick to Derby as McGoldrick expressed his displeasure by pushing Eustace in the chest as a number of other players joined in the melee. After order was restored, referee Wright booked McGoldrick but issued no sanction to Eustace, who had already been yellow-carded.

At the whistle, skipper Luke Chambers and a number of other Town players continued to remonstrate with the official, who was booed off by the Blues support.

Overall, Derby had had the better of a not overly-enthralling first half, having most of the ball and passing it around slickly, however, without creating many clear-cut opportunities.

Town, under-par compared with other recent home first-half performances, defended solidly for the most part and managed to carve out the better of the game’s few chances when going forward, Tabb’s early effort probably the best.

Teddy Bishop struck the first serious shot of the second half five minutes after the restart, the 18-year-old forcing Grant to scramble the ball away somewhat uncomfortably to his right before the danger was cleared.

The Town players made a strong claim for a penalty in the 53rd minute when - after excellent work from Mings and McGoldrick - Keogh appeared to block Tabb’s cross from the left with his arm. Referee Wright remained unmoved much the continued annoyance of the home fans, however, replays suggested he was correct.

Ex-Canary Martin headed Christie’s right-wing cross well wide in the 55th minute, then on 56 Stephen Hunt took over from Tabb.

Despite the Blues having started the half strongly, the visitors went ahead in the 57th minute. Smith misjudged Christie’s long ball over the top, weakly nodding back towards Bialkowski, allowing Martin to nip in to poke home. The ball had appeared to hold up in the wind and Smith ought to have cleared rather than looking to head back to his keeper.

Top scorer Murphy ought to have added to his 17 goals on the hour when McGoldrick flicked on a ball from the right but former Sunderland man failed to make enough contact and Grant saved and claimed the loose ball ahead of Hunt.

Russell hit a low shot which gave Bialkowski little trouble on 65, then Christophe Berra headed Hunt’s freekick from the left to Grant at the far post.

Two minutes later McGoldrick scuffed wide, moments before Noel Hunt replaced Anderson. On 72 Kevin Bru replaced Bishop.

As the game moved into its final 10 minutes Hunt and Hendrick clashed heads, the Derby man having to go off and the Blues winger requiring a change of shirt and shorts and a bandage.

Hyam was booked for pulling back Russell on 85 with Derby now largely happy to sit back and soak up Town pressure with the Blues showing few signs of getting back on terms.

As the game moved into injury time Eustace was finally shown a second yellow card, once again for a foul on McGoldrick. The Town support will have felt it ought to have come much earlier.

Town looked to put the pressure on in the final moments, Bru hitting a powerful 25-yard strike which Grant did well to save, then McGoldrick forcing a corner with a deflected shot wide. From the corner the ball was nodded back to the near post but Noel Hunt couldn’t add the final touch.

The Blues won another corner deep, deep in injury time, after a Stephen Hunt freekick had been punched out by Grant, from which Smith headed over, but moments later referee Wright’s whistle confirmed the Blues’ first defeat since October 21st at Cardiff, halting their unbeaten run at 12. It was Town’s first home loss since August 23rd.

Having started the second half on top, the Blues somewhat gifted the goal to Derby, who from there saw the game out without too many dramas against a Town side which huffed and puffed but made little headway against a Rams team who on this evidence appear more likely automatic promotion challengers.

As so often in the Championship there wasn’t too much between the sides - although the more composed Derby were in control for the most part - with one error deciding which way the points would go.

The result sees the Blues drop to third with none of the teams in action able to go ahead of them.

Town: Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Mings, Berra, Smith, Hyam, Bishop (Bru 72), Tabb (S Hunt), Anderson (N Hunt 68), Murphy, McGoldrick. Unused: Gerken, Parr, N Hunt, Bajner, Ambrose.

Derby: Grant, Christie, Forsyth, Buxton, Keogh (c), Eustace, Hendrick (Bryson 81), Hughes, Russell (Shotton 90), Ibe (Dawkins 86), Martin. Unused: Roos, Ward, Mascarell, Bent. Kevin Wright (Merseyside). Att: 20,861 (Derby: 873).

Photo: Action Images

oddball added 16:30 - Jan 10 And the whingers return, first defeat in 12, two defeats in 21. Great season so far, if your not enjoying this season you need another hobby :-)
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BlueMachines added 16:30 - Jan 10 Poor ref, poor game, poor result. But it was close so not desperately distraught to be honest. For me though the club's best midfielder needs to be playing a more prominent role. Step forward Kevin Bru. Don't blame MM for not having played him lately as I wouldn't change a winning team either. But I think Bru has a lot to offer the team going forward.
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WashbrookBlue added 16:36 - Jan 10 As ever, perspective on here in short supply as the usual suspects have dust down their scripts to have a go at their usual victims. I find some of the criticism here about abject this and not good enough that to be absolutely incredible in light of the last four months. But there you go. Disappointing that we couldn't again hit the heights today but apparently good teams turn up with the intent of giving you a game rather than just obligingly roll over and apart from a one off howler and a ref that got all the big moments wrong there was little to choose between us and a side that should have got promoted last year and are favourites to do this. For some , that would be classed at progress worthy of praise and encouragement but not all clearly.

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BlueMachines added 16:37 - Jan 10 By going forward I meant in the future, not just on the pitch!
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BlueandTruesince82 added 16:39 - Jan 10 Thought both sides looked average today. They never looked like scoring until Tommy gave them hand. Poor goal to give away, we should have had a pen. A draw would have been a fair result but I did think we looked sluggish. We should never have lost that game though. As Mick said it's how recover now that will make our season. COYB!
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BlueandTruesince82 added 16:41 - Jan 10 Oh and the ref was pretty poor
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smithy91 added 16:52 - Jan 10 Ref= poor Hyam= poor (rusty though) However, i dont get the slaters of Anderson. He was constantly finding space on the RHS today, and making busting runs. It was incredible the amount of times we could of released the ball down the right and didnt. Hyam lacked the range of Skuse/others too slow to release the ball like Mcgoldrick, Mings. Too many of the recent form players had off days unfortunately. However imo Tabb looked well up for it, and Anderson had a decent enough game. Therefore i think Mick got the subs a little wrong today. Smith did poorly with the goal, but otherwise wasnt too bad.

3

Elizabeth added 16:53 - Jan 10 Would like to have seen Luke Chambers along side Christophe Berra for this game. Parr at full back would have added balance to the defence. Tyrone could have played further forward today ! One of those awful games that never flowed ! Looks as if Norwich have done us a favour ! Results have not been too bad. Must keep the faith and not get carried away with the F.A Cup game this week.Would much rather keep our league position !

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oldegold added 16:53 - Jan 10 Oddball seems to confuse constructive criticism with whingeing So I might suggest as a suitable hobby for him a course in forward thinking which might permit him to accept that others have an opinion different to him which is pretty much the whole point of these message boards without resorting to offending people. If he were to re-read my words he would hopefully understand that it is based on today's woeful performance and doesn't take anything away from our fine run.Our tactics today were plain awful and showed up MM's limited game plans when we have to take the initiative.

1

dawoolah added 17:02 - Jan 10 Not our best performance but still only 1pt off top thanks to the budgies. Put it behind us, learn and move on.
5

DurhamTownFan added 17:02 - Jan 10 OK bluefast, I agree with your point on our style of play and it's problems, and I'm sure that in the long run MM would like to play with a bit more finesse. Trouble is, he's not got any money to spend, to signing all of these players you are on about is difficult. Can you give us some examples of exactly who might be good to sign? It seems to be ahrder than ever to sign players on a permanent basis in today's football, so you can't just go out there and pick someone from nowhere. Look at wordsworth: seemed decent, but didn't quite pay off. In other newsm, BOURNEMOUTH ALSO LOSE. So that defeat doesn't look QUITE as bad as it could have been now.

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Cakeman added 17:15 - Jan 10 Collectively as a team an off day. The close passing which has been very good of late just didn't come off today. It reminded me of the Norwich match earlier in the season where nothing quite clicked and we were then undone by a defensive mistake. I thought Derby did to us what we usually do to other teams and that is to close down the opposition in numbers when possession is lost. Effort was there and hopefully we can get back on track at Millwall. Also hope the Saints replay is not a distraction. Still all very much to play for and much to look forward to.

9

dirtydingusmagee added 17:16 - Jan 10 Well the unbeaten run had to end at some point, hopefully this will serve as a wake up call. I dont think we played well at all .After first ten mins [which showed promise we seem to lose the plot.Too many passes going astray [passes, is not strictly correct] we seemed to be kicking up field and just hoping it would fall to one of our own.So often it didnt .On a wild windy day when passing game was going to be important we seemed to do the opposite .Apart from the first and last few ninutes we were second best .That said it was only a real howler from Tommy that snatched the points.Im not going to rip into anyone over this result because to this point the team have done very well. Norwich actually did us a bit of a favour in checking Bournemouth ,so lets move on COYB

10

tractorgrl added 17:43 - Jan 10 Thought Derby were rubbish how i wish we could have spanked them today. We could have sent out a very strong message that we mean business,instead we've shown that we are mere mortals. Oh well, onto the next game, onwards and upwards!
2

thebeat added 17:43 - Jan 10 Only 1 person to blame for today in my opinion...THE REF!!! Blatant cheating. Eustace should have walked in the 1st half and then the penalty decision. He got conned by that fat tub if lard Martin every time the ball went near him. He was winning freekicks by backing in to our defenders meaning they were off balance and couldnt get up properly to win the header.Holding your ground is fine but he was backing in and thats a foul but the ref couldnt wait to give him free kicks. He was totally incompetent in every department, i for one am getting sick of useless referees game after game. If Eustace had walked when he should have we'd have overun them 2nd half and won easy. How much longer are these Hitlers in a strip going to get away with getting the game changing decisions wrong?

2

wayway added 17:45 - Jan 10 Comparing Hughes to Hyam is ridiculous. Hughes will be in the premier league next season with or without Derby. I know Hyam is a local boy therefore a fans favourite but he is blatantly not good enough. I said earlier in the week if we allowed Derby as much of the ball as we did Charlton we would be punished. It is time to show your intent Mr Evans (if you really exist), we need a top class midfield player and a real back up striker before the window closes. Remember 1968 when Bill McGarry went out and bought John O'Rourke and Peter Morris in January and we never lost another game and finished champions. But then we had a proper chairman and a proper board of directors who were all fans and who were not afraid to dip into their own pockets

2

oddball added 17:53 - Jan 10 Hyam is a good player and done well this season.
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masetheace added 18:08 - Jan 10 I am joining oddball's club . Some of you need to get over yourselves. Did you expect us to play well and win for the rest of the season ? That was never going to happen . Players have off days just as we all do . Just be thankful for the season so far and SUPPORT all the players for the games to come
9

blue added 18:13 - Jan 10 IN MY EYES IT WAS WON AND LOSS AT A TOSS OF A COIN.WEATHER CONDITIONS NOT GOOD FOR THE MATCH, PENALTY NOT GIVEN POOR REFEREEING WHICH WAS A TURNING POINT AND UNFORTUNATE BOUNCE WHICH WAS DEALT POORLY LIKE AGAINST SOUTHAMPTON.HOPEFULLY A BLIP AND MOVE ON LIKE WE KNOW WE HAVE TOO.SOUTHAMPTON YOUR GOING DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!
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Geoff added 18:17 - Jan 10 Worst performance apart from budgie game must improve the midfield you cannot play Hyam and Bishop.Must go out and spend in the transfer window to keep up with the others we will not have a better opportunity to go up.Also need another striker, but on this performance crying out for a play maker like Jonny Williams,Defence okay do not blame Smith been great all season.
1

warktheline added 18:17 - Jan 10 Come on oddball, be nice, we don't want any tears or tantrums on the forum tonight! Positivity is the key, Mick McCarthy will tell you that...and I second it!
2

chevvymalc added 18:18 - Jan 10 I feel better now that i know that although the Budgies are celebrating their win it must be grinding away that it helped our cause. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Kesblue66 added 18:36 - Jan 10 BAD DAY.Though we were very poor,To many aimless long high balls which came straight back,could not pass or keep ball ,seemed a yard to slow.Hope this is a one off.To cap it all i usually agree with Mick Mills after match assessments but today I thought he spoke a lot of rubbish.Lets get back on track.Think I know the game pretty well,been watching Town for 66 years.However they should have had a man sent off in first half,and we should have had a penalty in second,and their goal was a gift.So we could have been top of league tonight.Ref.rating 2.

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warktheline added 18:38 - Jan 10 @oldegold, stop crying about somebody giving you a minus, I mean if it's ok for you to dish them out, then so can others. Grow up!
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oddball added 18:55 - Jan 10 Come on you blues :-) Come on you blues :-) Come on you blues :-). We will still get promoted!!!!!!!!!
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