Chris Martin maintained his hex over Brighton & Hove Albion as he took his tally to six goals in a sequence of five straight victories for Derby County over these opponents since the start of last season to put Sami Hyypia’s future under increased scrutiny.
Martin scored twice as Derby, having beaten Brighton in both legs of the play-offs last season, scorched into a three-goal lead inside 20 minutes to remain at the top of the Championship.
But as Steve McClaren’s side celebrated taking another step towards the Premier League with an excellent response to last week’s defeat at Leeds United, Hyypia’s chances of retaining his job dwindled. Brighton have now won just once in 16 league games and Friday’s home game with Millwall looms ominously large.
The former Liverpool defender, who succeeded Óscar García during the summer, said he was “so down it’s difficult to see the positives” and had the demeanour of a man doubting his capability of reversing the club’s fortunes.
“If I don’t think I can turn the season around, I’ll walk away,” he said. “I’m still here. I intend to be at training on Monday.” Asked whether this meant he feared losing his job, he replied: “I can’t control that. They will tell me if I don’t need to be in work on Monday. I have no fear. I think that’s quite normal in football. I know it’s not nice but our run of results is not very good.
“The next game is always the most important game but the importance of our next game is even higher. But I’d like to give the importantness [sic] only for myself. The team will perform better if they don’t have this pressure.”
It was difficult to tell just how much Derby’s total dominance in the opening 20 minutes was attributable to their brilliance and how much to Brighton’s diffidence but, whichever, it was an intoxicating combination for the home supporters in a 28,637 crowd.
It was almost as if McClaren’s team did not realise how easy it was to cut Brighton open in the opening 10 minutes. Three goals in the next 10 told them how. Although Derby took their foot off the gas, while Brighton mustered a show of character after Rohan Ince replaced João Teixeira before half an hour was played to shore up the midfield, the game had been won and lost by then.
Martin’s ability not only to hold the ball up but to play progressive passes to midfielders running in makes him the best target man in the Championship, especially when factoring in his 14 goals to date.
He turned inside on to Johnny Russell’s pass to leave David Stockdale flat-footed with a low left-footed shot. Then, five minutes later, Martin laid the ball off for Craig Forsyth to play in Russell, who scampered between Brighton’s ragged back line to clip the ball off Aaron Hughes and over Stockdale.
Another five minutes, another goal. Cyrus Christie whipped over an excellent long cross for Martin to nod in at the back post. Hyypia’s introduction of Ince did stem the flood to his credit and Derby briefly lost control of the flow of the game. They dominated the second half, however, and it was a surprise they scored no more, Stockdale fumbling one Bryson shot against the post and Jeff Hendrick firing wide from the edge of the penalty area.
Despite the failure to add to their first-half goals, the result gave McClaren great “satisfaction” and he feels his players are taking “greater responsibility” as they mature. Now comes a big week for McClaren, ahead of his return to Middlesbrough, before Chelsea visit in the Capital One Cup a week on Tuesday.
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