For passing up “such a good chance” against Northampton Town yesterday, Derby County has come under fire.
Northampton Town defeated Derby County this weekend, ending their four-game winning streak and denying them the chance to go seven points clear of third place.
Although the Rams had managed their injuries this season rather successfully, they were unable to overcome Dwight Gayle’s absence on their trip to Sixfields Stadium.
For the first time in five months, Martyn Waghorn was back in the starting lineup, although he was unable to cover the glaringly obvious void left by James Collins and Gayle.
With a goal from Sam Hoskins in the first half, the Rams gave up and allowed Northampton to win for the first time in a month.
Paul Warne’s team wasted yet another excellent opportunity. If Bolton, Peterborough, and Barnsley win their remaining games, they can all catch up to Derby by one point.
Derbyshire Live journalist Leigh Curtis has now criticised Derby for their ‘frustrating’ display yesterday. He wrote on X: “My major gripe today was that it was such a good chance to put some daylight between the chasing pack, but performance didn’t reflect that. Was tired and lacked inspiration. Top two still in Derby’s hands, but today gave them less room for error. Frustrating.”
Derby County have been in the automatic promotion spots since beating Charlton Athletic at the start of February, however they could have pretty much had it all wrapped up by now if they hadn’t dropped points against beatable teams.
Since then, they have drawn to Shrewsbury and lost to Barnsley, Charlton and Northampton, yet still haven’t dropped out of the top two because their rivals have also dropped points too.
The Rams could have been well clear of third by now and may well have found themselves top.
We can accept that the squad has been struck with injuries this season, but that doesn’t warrant the poor performances that have been on display on several occasions.
if Derby do actually miss out on the automatics then Paul Warne will have a lot to answer to, especially given their disastrous second half of the 2022/23 campaign too.
It will be interesting to see where his position stands at Pride Park if they do miss out on the top two – even if they are to win the play-offs. Though it has been 17 years since they last won the play-offs – failing at their previous four attempts.
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