The Second Goal Was Offside!
Around half past two on Saturday afternoon, I was sat in the pub with a few friends having a good time. I had mentioned calling a taxi a couple of times but we'd put it off. One of the party then suggested that we forget about the game altogether. Almost every match-day has run a similar course this season; great pre-match banter and general chat, abruptly ended by going to the stadium. The afternoon generally goes downhill from there. As my Dad likes to say "we had a great day apart from the ninety minutes in the middle". We caved in though phoned a taxi to the ground.
On the way to Pride Park I was thinking about Queen of the South's win over Aberdeen earlier in the day: "If Queen of the South can beat Aberdeen and Aberdeen can draw with Bayern Munich, then given the opportunity, Queen of the South would obviously beat Bayern Munich. This being the case, surely a Rams victory over Villa isn't too much to ask?".
The first 15-20 minutes seemed to be going fine with Derby having the majority of play. Then the problems started- Villa scored before they'd even had a proper shot as Carroll uncharacteristically misjudged a floated free kick and it went straight in. Within a minute it was 2-0 with Agbonlahor both offside and most definitely interfering (the ball hit him as Carroll was trying to get past him). Soon after Carroll's misery was compounded (but not completed) when a flat kick out which would usually result in a midfield scramble was returned over his head for 0-3. It would be a gross injustice to Stan Petrov to describe the goal as "lucky" as it was a perfectly executed outside of the foot half volley into the top corner from the half way line. However, to be on the receiving end of what was labelled in one paper as "goal of the season" was unlucky from a Rams perspective. It doesn't take much for Derby heads to drop and chins were collectively in chests of both players and fans at this point- meanwhile, Villa fans were doing the conga.
At half time, I recalled the my friends earlier logic for not going to the match and thought "it's not going to cost me anything to leave the stadium now". Considering the likely outcome of the second half, I reasoned that in the best case we might score a consolation and end up losing 1-3. In the worst case Villa might go on to win by four or five. I had little interest in either scenario. So after over two decades of watching the Rams, I left early. Not with ten minutes to go but at half time with hundreds more. It wasn't anger or protest, simply that our afternoon out would be better spent as it had been earlier, sat in the boozer and having a laugh- now with the added bonus of Sky Sports News.
Another sorry episode in the season of Derby County. For fans of other clubs who can't ever imagine strolling out at half time, I would have agreed completely if it wasn't for the repeated new lows of this season. Never mind, I'd perked up by the time I got home.
S Spaceram
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