With everybody else on the international break, this game was presented as such a brilliant opportunity to turn the psychological screw on the other sides in the top six. But as is the Derby way, they blew an incredible chance to move two points behind leaders Portsmouth while the cheers at Bolton, Barnsley and Peterborough could almost be heard at full-time.
And ultimately this was a day in which everything that could go wrong invariably did. For a start, Derby spurned three terrific chances in the first half before Nathaniel Mendez-Laing limped off injured and Sonny Bradley got sent off. Paul Warne said he felt that his side did not cope particularly well with the pressure of having to win, but it just looked a tired performance in which there was little in the way of inspiration particularly in the final third.
Northampton’s gameplan wasn’t particularly intellectual as they played with one man up front and tried to hit Derby on the counter-attack which is how the goal came about even though there was a foul on Kane Wilson in the build-up.
The biggest positive out of this afternoon is that promotion is still in Derby’s hands with just six games remaining. You wouldn’t want it the other way round and all defeat did here was ensure that the margin for error just becomes smaller.
But let’s be honest. No team be it Bolton, Peterborough, Portsmouth or Barnsley are going to win their remaining seven games on the spin. Neither of them have managed it once in the league this season and if they do it and manage to go up then they will have deserved it. But this was a wake-up call for Derby in that standards cannot drop and beating Blackpool next Friday is crucial.
Blackett-Taylor’s time to shine
The £300,000 signing from Charlton has not had the best of starts to his Derby career not helped by a niggling hamstring injury he suffered not long after his arrival.
But he showed flashes of the qualities in his 30 minutes on the pitch here which suggested he is now ready to show us the brilliance that made him one of the most feared winger’s in the division. There were a couple of moments when he showcased blistering speed, quick feet and teased a couple of decent balls into the box, one of which that Curtis Nelson just couldn’t make count.
But it was an encouraging contribution from the former Aston Villa player who now has an opportunity to really make his mark in this promotion push. If Mendez-Laing is going to be missing for some time (more of that below) then Blackett-Taylor is the next-best winger in line given his pace.
If he could step up to the plate now, it would certainly be most welcome because as he proved at Charlton, when he is in the mood, nobody can live with him which is why Derby signed him in the first place.
The injuries keep on mounting and Mendez-Laing blow is a nightmare
It’s fair to say that a season of the TV show Holby City has encountered fewer casualties than Derby this term and they still continue to pile up. Tom Barkhuizen is out for three weeks, Craig Forsyth is struggling with a calf problem and the list of players who are currently out would make for an excellent starting XI that could probably challenge for promotion on its own.
