Phuckerama: Derby 2-2 Fulham
Can’t start a fire, can’t start a fire without a spark…
We blew it. Derby have been awful all season and we couldn’t beat them. Our best players were Simon Davies, scampering around effectively on the right, Kasey Keller, who made some fine saves and did all he could to keep us in it, and that’s probably about it. Nobody else showed anything to suggest that they deserved to stay in the top division. On this of all days, they couldn’t rise above the conditions, the pitiful opponents. Heartbreaking stuff for those of us in the stands. Hodgson removed Bullard with ten minutes left, a move that brought boos from the crowd and visibly staggered the midfielder. Danny Murphy came on and did well, so perhaps it was the right thing to do, but it took balls and won’t help his standing in the eyes of many fans, for whom Bullard can do no wrong.
Derby scored first by accident. The ball ponged around following a Robbie Savage volley that went upwards rather than forwards. Andreasen and two Derby players converged, the ball came back our way, a shot, off a Derby player’s backside, and in.
Summed up our season.
We fought back. Davies drilled a cross into the heart of the Derby defence and Diomansy Kamara rose unchallenged to head home. 1-1. From there the teams mixed possession and gave their all, but there was little to choose between them and this is perhaps all we need to know. The 4-4-2 meant that the midfield never imposed itself with any consistency. There were flashes of excellence, particularly long passes from Bullard and Davies that cut open the Derby defence, but these were rare and Derby will feel that they earned their point.
It could have been worse. In the second half Savage was given the freedom of the penalty area, but could only shoot straight at Keller. It was a huge letoff. Bullard hit the bar with a free-kick, but Derby hit the bar too, and also narrowly missed when Robert Earnshaw shot wide of an empty net, albeit from a tricky angle. We didn’t particularly look like scoring, but with 12 minutes to go Kamara broke clear and smashed a left footed shot at Roy Carroll. The ‘keeper’s parry bounced to Hameur Bouazza, whose controlled half-volley flicked off Dean Leacock and dribbled into the net. Pandemonium in the stands, relief all over the players’ faces. Oh how they celebrated.
The crowd started up it’s “we’re winning away” chant.
“We’re winning away. We’re winning awaaay, how shit must..” Then it stopped.
Derby had scored straight away. A simple cross, a simple header. The end.
