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The Pre-Match Warm Up
 Friday 28th October 2005
by Ron Norris & Simon Skinner

Rangers travel to Pride Park on Saturday to face Derby County, can we follow up the fine win over Norwich with another good performance this weekend?
 

Derby County v Queens Park Rangers
Coca Cola Football League Championship
Saturday 29th October 2005
Kick Off 15:00

 
TEAM NEWS

Both Marc Nygaard and Marc Bircham miss Saturday's game having picked up hamstring injuries during the 3-0 win over Norwich, neither injury is particularly serious though and both should be fit for the visit of Watford on Tuesday. Their absence means Georges Santos is likely to return to midfield with Olly choosing between playing Kevin Gallen upfront with Paul Furlong or leaving him on the right wing and letting Dean Sturridge have a run at his old club.

Derby wrapped up two loan signings on Thursday, striker Dexter Blackstock joined from Southampton whilst defender Emerson Thome moved from Wigan, both could go straight into the team to face us on Saturday. Former R's loanee Andrew Davies, now on a season long deal at Pride Park, was sent off last weekend and misses the game through suspension but Michael Johnson should return to the side after sitting out the same match having collected five yellow cards.
 
POSSIBLE TEAM          
      Furlong   Sturridge      
                 
         
  Cook   Doherty   Santos   Gallen  
                 
         
  Dyer   Evatt   Shittu   Bignot  
                 
             
           
     

Royce

      
 
A QUICK GUIDE TO OUR OPPONENTS

DERBY IN BRIEF

Derby, much like last season play off opponents Preston, have had a disappointing run this season. Losing Huddleston and Rasiak to Spurs was a double blow and has certainly hurt them upfront and at the back. Anything can happen in this unpredictable league but another run at the play offs is looking more and more like an impossible task for The Rams this campaign.

LAST FIVE GAMES
Date Versus Venue F A
22/10/05 Hull Away 1 2
18/10/05 Wolves Away 1 1
15/10/05 Stoke Home 2 1
01/10/05 Leicester Home 1 1
28/09/05 Leeds Away 1 3
         

         

TOP SCORERS
Name FLC FAC LC Total
Inigo Idiakez 6 0 0 6
Morten Bisgaard 4 0 0 4
Paul Peschisolido 3 0 0 3
 

RUBBISH FACT

Derby's old home, The Baseball Ground, was cursed by gypsies who were upset at being moved off the site when the ground was built in 1895.
 
RANGERS VERSUS .....

LAST TIME OUT

Derby County 0 - 0 Queens Park Rangers
Wednesday 16th March 2005

"At the whistle it was clear to see which team were happier with the point. As the Derby players trudged off the R’s players were running to celebrate with the fans behind Lee Camp’s goal. Furs and Camp swapped shirts at the end and every Rangers player made a point of shaking his hand as he left the field."
 

LEAGUE STANDINGS
Pos Team P GD Pts
10th QPR 15 -1 21
15th Derby 15 -1 17
         
 
HEAD TO HEAD
Played QPR Derby Draws
36 9 14 13
 
 

OTHER MEETINGS

With the two sides having moved in different circles over the previous decade, last season was Rangers first ever visit to Pride Park and we got a draw out of it. Compared to games at the Baseball Ground, that's not bad going. We enjoyed back to back wins there in 1988 but our last win before that was a 5-1 thumping in 1975.

 
GENERAL INFORMATION

THE REFEREE

Kevin Wright takes charge of his third ever Rangers game on Saturday and the first away from Loftus Road. Last season he looked after our 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest that saw The Tricky Trees relegated and back in 2003 he was the ref for a 1-1 draw with Tranmere that saw Kevin Gallen cancel out Simon Haworth's opener.

THE REF RECORD
Season Games Yellows Reds
2005-06 11 43 1
2004-05 34 87 4
2003-04 27 83 8
 

 

OPPONENTS LINKS
Official Website DCFC.co.uk
Fans Website The Baseball Bat
Travel Information The Football Ground Guide
 

QPR CONNECTIONS

Aside from having two ex R's in their squad in Lee Camp and Andrew Davies, Derby and Rangers have shared a few other players over the years. Warren Barton plodded over to Loftus Road from Pride Park in 2003 for a short stay, whilst both Jon Gregory and Don Masson moved to Derby after their Rangers careers came to and end.

 
RON AND SIMON'S PREDICT-OFF
RON: I couldn't have been happier to be completely wrong with my Norwich prediction! Hopefully the impressive win will have worked wonders with the squads confidence and we'll put in another encouraging performance this weekend. Certainly we'll miss Marc Nygaard who has become the focal point of our attacks so I don't see us scoring too many but I'm much more confident of getting a result away from home this season than from games at Loftus Road and hopefully we can take a point away from this one. 0-0 draw.

SIMON: After the drubbing handed out to Norwich last weekend confidence should be pretty high amongst the squad. Nygaard is missing through injury and he will be a huge loss as he has become vital to the way the team plays. Furlong will need to be on his best form for the full ninety minutes and the game may hinge on who partners him. Derby have only lost one at home this season but drawn four. I think it will be five come the final whistle. 1-1.


Current score: Ron 12 Simon 12