September 18 2009

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace seem to have the Indian sign over Derby County in recent seasons, writes Simon Pophale.

Mind you, I started to wax lyrical about our chances against Scunthorpe for the last “It’s All In The Past” and look what happened there....

At Selhurst, where we are in the middle of a wretched run, we have a good record in recent years over The Rams. The last three meetings have seen three wins, with five goals scored and three clean sheets.

Last season when we met in April, Derby were a team in transition and with a recently appointed Nigel Clough at the helm, were battling relegation. We nabbed all three points with a Shefki Kuqi winner. This appeared to be more remarkable as we had to play the last 30 minutes with 10 men, as Victor Moses was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Another noteworthy statistic is that Derby was the last team we beat at home in the league. A repeat, please Mr Warnock!

The previous contest at Selhurst between the sides was in 2006/07 as Derby were on the verge of promotion but our 2-0 victory, live on satellite TV, consigned them to the play-offs. Goals from Clinton Morrison and Mark Kennedy saw us end our home campaign with a win. Derby went on to win the playoffs and seal promotion.

Season 2005/06 saw us again triumph with a 2-0 score line as Darren Ward and Clinton Morrison ensured that our post Christmas celebrations could continue as we remained in the playoff places.

What is it about Derby and sending offs? In 2003/04 it happened again, when Darren Powell was sent off and although Danny Butterfield put us in front, Derby equalised with 17 minutes to go and Powell’s sending off did not help matters as it came right at the end of the match.

Derby’s last victory at Selhurst Park was on September 17th 2002 when Georgi Kinkladze scored the winner. That match was almost seven years to the date of our current encounter; I hope that is not a sign of things to come...

The Rams were, previous to 2003/04, regular members of the Premiership and the home match of our disastrous one season sojourn with the big-time did provide us with something to cheer about.

We had gone all season without a home win and although boasting a decent away record, we broke our duck in April with a 3-1 victory. Sasa Curcic, Matt Jansen and Marcus Bent were goalscorers on a day when the famous Palace “gallows humour” was in full swing. Conga last day of the season anyone?

Speaking of Gallows, it is interesting to note that with each match during this period, we had a different manager every time. A statistic which will, acts of God notwithstanding, be broken on Saturday.

While the recent times have provided us with good results, overall Derby are much in the ascendancy with 26 wins. We managed 17 in that time, with 13 matches drawn in all of our confrontations.

The first match went right back to our first season in the league, when we were promoted at the first attempt but as both teams plied their trade in different divisions after 1924 saw a near 40 year absence before the teams met again in the mid-sixties.

And with both clubs gaining promotion over the coming 15 years, Derby held sway with Brian Clough taking his team to the title, while we toyed with battling relegation, succumbing to it and then bouncing back with aplomb come 1979. Our best ever result at home over the Rams, was a 4-0 thumping with the “Team of the Eighties” as we stood high and mighty over everyone by the end of that September.

As ever with Palace though, such things never last but let us hope that we can extend our home record against the Rams on Saturday.