The Rams begin to rise as expectations fall

On Saturday morning I got on a train to London at 10.00am with my 5 best mates (including my brother and Dad). The first bottle was cracked before we'd left Derby Station. In the first pub we got to, we punched the air as the Rams scored the spectacularly perfect Carling cup draw of Leeds at home.

Onto the game against pre season promotion favourites QPR, who had recently tried (and failed) to fleece us with uplifted ticket prices. The Rams totally outplayed and outfought Rangers and deservedly won 2-0. Both goals coming in the last 10 minutes right in front of the away end.

How was your weekend? 

It's often said when you are building a new team, the first thing to do is make yourselves hard to beat. Once you've scrapped a few results out and confidence builds, you can become more expansive and take the game to the opposition. Billy Davies (how long until he turns up at Forest?) did this very successfully but never quite got around to moving onto phase 2.

Three weeks ago, Paul Jewell was one more horror show away from the axe. Two wins and eight points later, he seems to have at last got the bones of a team and appears to be building something. At last we have some team spirit, fight, will to win and that rarest of Derby commodities - a bit of confidence.

Whereas in the first few games, there was the horrible vicious circle of the more the players struggled, the more the (still punch drunk from the Premiership, expecting some payback) fans lost patience. Subsequently the more the fans lost patience, the more nervous, and frankly poor, the players got. Now the fans can see commitment and passion from the lads, they have immediately become more patient and supportive of Jagger and his new team. 

Our awesome central midfield pair of Paul Green and Miles Addison frankly steamrolled QPR yesterday and it was a shame that Commons wasn't playing to add a bit of creativity to their endeavours.

On Tuesday, we play Birmingham at home and that will be a good test of how far we've come in the last couple of weeks. However even if we lose that one, they'll be no fans revolt or calls for Jaggers head. We'll just move on to Norwich and try to start another run. 

After the worst 12 footballing months anyone could ever imagine, whisper it quietly - The Rams are rising.

C Spaceram
www.ramspace.co.uk