Derby 0 Sunderland 1

Last updated : 09 February 2002 By Our man at the match

Derby County and John Gregory returned to Premiership reality today at Pride Park.

Robert Lee
Lee had quite debut
After the euphoria that followed last weeks appointment and win by John Gregory's team it was a case of missed chances today and a lose that could quite easily have been another win if lady luck had shone on us for a second week.

Débutante Robert Lee had a steady but unimpressive first performance for the Rams. It would be unfair to judge him yet however as the man has only had a couple of days to get to know team mates never mind the way John Gregory wants him to play.

The day started badly as a minutes in respect of Princess Margaret who sadly died early in the day was marred by an idiot in the Derby section of the crowd. His constant cry of "Come on Derby" was an embarrassment to all the rest of the 31,770 people who observed the minute in silence…We at Derby County Mad hope the moron who ruined the tribute is found and banned from the ground for such an insensitive gesture.

Back to the match and Derby started how they left off last week. Full of running and looking to add to the winning tally under John Gregory.

Sunderland to their credit came looking to take the game to Derby after their recent poor spell and dive toward the bottom half of the table.

Derby took 17 minutes to have a shot on target and this was a very weak effort by French Midfielder Pierre Ducrocq. Derby's second notable attacking move came in the 28th minute, when a well hit shot from Ravenelli from 25yards out bent towards the Sunderland goal. Unfortunately the shot didn't bend enough and hit the sidenetting with the Sunderland keeper struggling to get near it.

The nil-nil score line at half time was greeted with applause from the Derby faithful, but it was clear that we needed the same effort in the second half to get anything out of this match.

Zavagno
Zavagno unlucky with shot that hit the bar
As the second half started it was clear that Peter Reid and his men had definitely sensed they could get a result here at Pride Park. They continued to push forward and controlled long periods of the second period.

It was Derby however that came nearest to breaking the deadlock in the 58th minute. A great run and one-two with Ravanelli saw Zavagno shoot from inside the area. His shot cannoned off the bar and fell for Malcolm Christie. His shot looked certain to be on it's way into the net but is cleared off the line and away for a corner. Games are won and lost on chances and incidents like this and the Rams must feel very unlucky not to have scored from this one.

Malcolm Christie then featured in one of Graham Poll's worst decisions of the game. Christie had weaved his way into the area and as he looked for room to unleash a shot goalwards he was blatantly obstructed. Mr Poll's view of the incident was vastly different from the crowd in the North Stand, Poll giving a free kick to Sunderland, for what I guess only he will know!

The final half-hour sees both teams creating chances as the ball fly's from one end to the other. The game is still open for anyone to claim all three points.

Niall Quinn
Niall Quinn scores to take all three points
Sunderland think they have broken the deadlock in the 78th minute, Quinn scoring from a move started with a throw-in. The referee coming to Derby's aid as he spotted a foul on a Rams defender just prior to Quinn's strike.

Derby didn't take this warning to heart though and it was less than 2 minutes later when Quinn again scored after a Gray shot was blocked.

With ten minutes left it looked and consequently was too big a hill for the Rams to climb. The Rams couldn't find the goal that would have given them a precious point.

John Gregory now goes back to the drawing board and must raise spirits and skill levels before the Rams take on East Midlands rivals Leicester City in a "must win" relegation match at Filbert Street on the 23rd Feb.