City v Derby

Subs not used: Gunnlaugsson, Gilchrist, Campbell, Arphexad.

Booked: Izzet, Zagorakis.

Derby: Poom, Powell, Dorigo, Prior (Schnoor, 87), Delap, Johnson, Laursen, Robinson (Strupar, 78), Burley, Elliott, Burton.

Subs not used: Hoult, Christie, Kinkladze.

Booked: Burton, Prior, Powell, Johnson.

Attendance: 18,581.

Referee: D Elleray

Leicester (0) 0 Derby (0) 1 FT
                            Powell 69

City 'Under the Weather'

Peter Gilbert 18.12.99
Oh well we lost a football match - it's no big deal is it?..........except this was no ordinary match, it was against Derby County, local rivals and all that.

For our part the game never got off the ground.   Only three days earlier our lads had played 120 mins + a penalty shoot out to knock the league leaders out of The League Cup and we came into this game with 3 key players out and looking tired and listless from the kick off.   Football is an emotional thing.  It is the emotions that drive players, managers and fans to dig deep for that extra little something. After our exertions the other night I felt drained, happy but drained and if I'm honest I wasn't able to give my all as a supporter for this game so I shouldn't really criticise if the players felt the same........excuses excuses!!!

We did however have a new player to unveil to the world, our record signing of Darren Eadie at £3.5m and he played like a whippet let off the lead.  I can understand why MON bought him, he looks like he used to, only quicker.   We saw his speed very early on and his lightning reactions as he flashed a header in on goal, which Poom was grateful to grab. He looks as if he'll be a useful asset and if West Ham aren't thrown out of the league cup for playing a player who had played in the same competition for someone else then presumably he'll be able to play for us in that too.   MON certainly has faith in him, he kept him on the whole game, and switched others around him.

The trouble with this performance was that we lacked ideas from the back, gave possession away in midfield and our attacks seemed to revolve around big balls down the middle for our speedy duo to chase ie Heskey and Eadie, but it didn't really work and it wasn't until Cottee came on to rescue a game that we were losing thanks to a goalkeeping error or a foul on the 'keeper following a freakish lobbed shot before we had a decent chance to score and even then Mr Reliabilty(TC) slewed his shot wide.

The freezing weather on the way home did nothing to raise our spirits and so it would seem wise to simply draw a veil over the proceedings as we had lost a game that was so poor in quality that it deserved nothing more than a 0-0 draw.

However I do believe Barry Pierrpoint and the Go4 are in a spot of bother, so there was something optimistic about the day.

I can't really mention any City player with distinction, it was a poor performance and our tired players were well below par.

One last thing however: I don't like to criticise refs. but D. Ellerey today was outstandingly pedantic, and he broke up all continuity of play by blowing his whistle so often when he could have waved play on.