Ok, that rounds us off for the first leg of the first Championship play-off. More to come tomorrow, when Middlesbrough take on Aston Villa at tea-time.
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Here’s Nick Miller’s report from Pride Park
Derby manager Gary Rowett speaks.
I’m very happy with lots of things. We were a counterattacking threat all night which we worked on. Defensively, we were very well disciplined. Curtis Davies marshalled them very well. I was disappointed we didn’t pick them off for a second. The goal was the first time we showed a bit of composure. The goal comes from a bit of good play. We have given ourselves a fantastic opportunity.
Social media watch:
A message to the #dcfcfans...
— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) May 11, 2018
You were absolutely outstanding from start to finish! 👏
You Rammmmmssssssssssssssss!!! pic.twitter.com/PQ4kNCQ3oD
Jerome's first-half header is the difference here tonight.
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) May 11, 2018
There's still 90 minutes to play. Let's stick together and do the job at home! #FFC #COYW pic.twitter.com/RtNCzmn3vf
Derby’s Cameron Jerome and Curtis Davies speak.
CJ : “It’s a slight advantage. If you had offered it before we would have taken it. It’s going to be tough. They boys were magnificent from 1-11.”
CD: “[On Mitrovic] He’s an in-form striker. We can’t defend for another 90 minutes down there..but it’s good to have a lead to take down there.”
CJ: “Given chances you will score goals. The lads are finding me, thankfully. Curtis was magnificent tonight and the back 3-5 was brilliant.”
CD: “They [Fulham] with Wolves are the best footballing side in the First Division Hopefully, we can make a couple of chances and win the tie.”
Full-time
There goes the final whistle. Derby, resolute and threatening. Fulham were disappointing and fragile.
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90 mins: Fulham are careless in the dying seconds, and give the ball away. Anya, though, cannot do much with it. There were no teammates ready to receive a cross.
90 mins: Applause as Carson takes an age over a goal-kick. Derby fans trying to sing the nerves away. And their team is now dallying over throw-ins down the right-hand flank.
90 mins: Plenty of pictures of fans biting nails, sucking thumbs and rocking on their heels. Agony for the home fans, and even worse for Fulham supporters, perhaps.
90 mins: There will be four added minutes, which seems maybe a minutes in excess, and the Derby fans are none too amused.
89 mins: Derby sub: On comes Jamie Hanson for a limping Weimann.
88 mins: Fulham step it up again. A dinked cross to Mitrovic, but the striker can’t keep his header down.
87 mins: Sub: Oliver Norwood is on for Fulham, replacing Johansen.
87 mins: Cairney chance. In typical style, he ghosts into space, and his shot spinnakers towards goal. Carson was beaten, but so was the post.
86 mins: And Bradley Johnson booked too, for Derby, for a tactical foul as Fulham looked to be breaking.
85 mins: Johansen booked for Fulham.
84 mins: Weimann on the break, falls over at exactly the wrong moment. Derby were close to being through and Weimann, who slipped on the ball, looks to have hurt himself.
82 mins: Kebano is getting involved, and been more prominent than Sessegnon, but still, Fulham, who have scored in every game in 2018, look incapable of carving out chances. Mitrovic forces a corner.
81 mins: Derby fans are giving it the big one. “Super Derby, super Rams” and their team has been pretty heroic so far, though the lack of a second goal will only add anxiety.
79 mins: Not sure those subs have had the desired effect for Fulham. Suddenly, their attack looks even more lacking in cohesion. For Derby, Anya and Nugent have been effective in releasing the pressure.
77 mins: Fulham pile it on, but Derby have reclaimed something of their early poise in defence and throw a wet blanket over the danger.
76 mins: First booking: Weimann for clattering Kebano and then protesting too much.
75 mins: Better signs for Derby, even better signs when Sessegnon and Ayite leave the field for Piazon and Kebano. Sessegnon, the EFL Player of the Year no less, was negligible.
74 mins: Odoi has to take evasive action. Lawrence again gets space, and Nugent was lurking with intent. Another Derby corner comes to nothing when a whistle is blown for an infringement.
72 mins: Tom Lawrence gets to the byline, and his ball arrows into the six-yard box. Anya cannot reach it. Would a centre-forward like Vydra or Jerome have done better?
71 mins: Tom Huddlestone opens up Fulham with a long pass. Anya forces a corner. It went to the back post but Bradley Johnson was penalised for some shoving.
70 mins: The stats suggest that for the last 10 minutes 55% of the action has been in Derby’s final third. They are holding firm. But only just.
69 mins: Targett overlaps and nods down for Mitrovic, but he overbalances and the ball ends up squirting behind the goalline. The ball not quite dropping for Fulham.
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68 mins: Derby subs: off come Jerome and Vydra, while on come David Nugent and Ikechi Anya.
66 mins: Fulham ratcheting it up. Derby going last-ditch. But pressure is relieved when Mitrovic can’t keep the ball in.
64 mins: Mitrovic attempted to slalom through but Davies denied him again. It is, though, getting ragged for Derby.
63 mins: Cairney at last surges forward from midfield. A fierce shot but straight at Carson.
62 mins: Long, hopeful ball from Vydra, and Bettinelli came out to the edge of the centre circle to deny Jerome. He had to since Odoi was dithering, but this was as foolhardy as it was brave.
60 mins: At such a point, do players begin to think of their clubs’ poor record in the play-offs? Possibly not the best course of action for these specialists in play-off failure.
59 mins: This is opening up now. Mitrovic denied that time but becoming ever more prevalent.
57 mins: Fulham are known for late goals, and it looks as if half-time has leadened Derby’s legs. That said, Lawrence found space, but the ball up to him from Weimann had been any use, that could have been 2-0. Neither team have shown the attacking precision they will find in the Premier League.
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55 mins: Now a chance for Weimann at the other end. Looped ball over and the Austrian gets a shooting chance. Fredericks, though, was in the right position to put him off. The angle was also far too acute.
54 mins: Another great Fulham chance! Long, diagonal ball from Johansen finds Ayite clear on goal but he can’ keep his shot down.
53 mins: Fulham rattle the bar! Mitrovic holds the ball up and McDonald smashes it. Carson was beaten.
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51 mins: The intensity of the later part of the second half is yet to be replicated. Fulham, though, are looking a little brighter.
49 mins: More signs of nerves? This time it’s Curtis Davies leaving Bradley Johnson short and he has to clatter Cairney. Fulham take the free-kick short and Andre Wisdom climbed highest. Sessegnon gets a sighter and smashes it over the bar.
48 mins: Chaotic scenes. What happened there? Goalkeeper Bettinelli, slipped on a back pass and it bounced off Cameron Jerome. Fulham very lucky not to concede another.
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47 mins: We begin with Fulham passing the ball around at the back, just as we began the first.
46 mins: That deafening Derby sound system was playing Eminem’s Lose Yourself, an odd choice considering its title, but as that cuts out, the second half is back underway.
What do Fulham need to do here? Perhaps it might be as simple as keeping the score to 1-0, but they could really do with getting players like Tom Cairney on the ball in midfield, or at least further forward than they are currently being allowed to venture.
Daniel Reilly emails in from Failsworth, Manchester.
I like Tom Huddlestone. He gives hope to those of us that are broader of chest.
What are these clubs playing for? David Conn with a gentle reminder.
Half-time review
So far, a tactical masterclass from Gary Rowett’s Derby. Fulham have tried to play their usual game but have been shunted backwards by power and organisation. Perhaps their best chance of taking anything back to SW London is Derby running out of energy, but it them who have looked leggy. Great goal from Jerome, too. Real quality centre-forward play from him.
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45 mins: And that ends with more frustration for Fulham.
45 mins: A minute added on
44 mins: Davies again stops Mitrovic holding the ball up. The Serb is the counterpoint of Fulham and with him struggling, they will struggle to create chances.
43 mins: Another Fulham attack comes to naught. Some hurried, long passing. Most out of character for them.
42 mins: Here come Derby again. Jerome out on the flank and Vydra tries to follow up the second ball. Fulham being hurried in defence and attack.
40 mins: A pre-break surge from the visitors. Ayite has a shot blocked. Derby still holding firm. Their three-man defence is effectively five with wing-backs tucked in. Andy Weimann, a forward for Villa, has been manful in dealing with Fulham’s attacks down the right.
39 mins: Jokanovic calls for calm from the sidelines. Still a long way to go here.
38 mins: What can Fulham produce? Mitrovic gets his first sight of goal. Turns away from Davies at last and forces a hesitant save from Carson.
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36 mins: Derby fans bounce in the stands and their team are now brimming with confidence. Fulham have been circumspect, and nervous, and have failed to deal with Rowett’s game plan.
35 mins: It had been coming though that was the first time Derby had properly got down the flanks. Targett, was, er, targeted there, and Derby overloaded once they got the ball out to the left. Jerome is always capable of bullying defenders.
Goal! Derby 1-0 Fulham (Jerome 34)
Huddlestone’s ball gets Forsyth out on the left. Great cross, and Jerome powers through Matt Targett to get there.
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32 mins: So far, Mitrovic is losing the battle with Curtis Davies, who is showing off all his experience and wiles.
31 mins: Some hurried stuff from Fulham at the back. Derby have slowly edged forward as this half has gone on.
29 mins: Fulham lack flow, it has to be said but Derby need to take advantage of that during such moments of doubt.
27 mins: Derby build up a head of steam. Richard Keogh steps forward, and it looks like the ball is being retained rather than risked. Then a prodding pass catches Tim Ream unawares, and Lawrence just fails to create a clear chance.
25 mins: Chance? Derby allowed a cross to travel a long way and it took Scott Carson’s alertness to clear the danger. Fulham will rue not getting enough men forward.
24 mins: Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce is in the stands with assistant and fine man Steve Agnew. A scouting mission, but perhaps also a chance to acclimatise to the play-off pain by watching someone else go through it.
23 mins: The most regular sight in this game so far is the ball being played around the centre circle by Fulham as their midfield attempts to find the speedsters on the flank or Mitrovic, and it’s not working so far.
21 mins: But here’s Lawrence, who’s been lively, and he’s on the burst, only to hit the first Fulham defender when he had teammates to his left.
20 mins: At this point, I shall use up the cliche “cagey affair”.
18 mins: Derby are looking to hit Jerome with long balls. So far, he has barely had a touch. The Rowett plan appears to be sitting back and then on the counter.
17 mins: Fulham try to calm things down with some passing moves. Eventually, Fredericks overlaps down the right and Davies comes across to clear.
16 mins: Now the noise is up as Sessegnon has to clear a Johnson cross. Vydra, who always looks for space, has made a couple of incursions into dangerous areas.
15 mins: The early noise has dulled a little, and the nerves are apparent.
14 mins: A shove in the corner from Odoi on Lawrence gives Derby a free-kick chance. The big men are up for this but Fulham keeper Bettinelli punched it clear to safety.
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12 mins: Derby on the counter attack. It was harem scarem and Cameron Jerome looked to be away, but the angle was tight and another flag on the play. Seems Fulham are playing the offside trap, and none too safely.
10 mins: Derby have weathered the early storm and while they don’t look too coherent in attack, they have been resolute in defence.
8 mins: Gary Rowett is a gum-chewer par excellence. Really chowing down, in between barking at his players and officials. He is, let’s say, one of life’s enthusiasts.
7 mins: Offside decision given that looked dodgy to say the least, and Derby looked to have got clear. Now Tom Lawrence has suffered an injury. Losing the Welshman would be a significant blow, but he comes back on.
5 mins: Fulham free-kick in a dangerous position. Tom Huddlestone climbed highest to head clear.
4 mins: Fulham with the early momentum. Mitrovic holds the ball up, and Sessegnon gets his first sight of goal. He smashes it over. Just after that, the young man gets a run on the Derby defence. His being tackled brings out a hell of a cheer from the home fans.
3 mins: Penalty claim there. Did Curtis Davies handle? He looks a little guilty but the ball is cleared and the ref waves play on.
2 mins: On the bench, Slavisa Jokanovic looks tense and wild-eyed. Mind you, that’s a pretty regular occurrence.
1 min: Hell of a racket out there, plenty of boos for Fulham whenever they are in possession.
1 min: And away we go!
Captain Curtis Davies has been leading Derby’s players through a Stevie G-style huddle, and used some very rude words indeed.
James Elliott emails in.
I’m following this from the Mille Miglia offices in Brescia, working on the classic car event that starts on Monday. Let’s hope we don’t give Derby ‘Alfa’ chance this evening...
That doesn’t really work, does it?
Anyone who has attended Pride Park will be familiar with the racket the pre-match routine makes. It sounds like a rocket taking off, in the world’s worst cheesy nightclub. Can there be a worse pre-match routine? Let me know if you have heard or seen it.
After last week’s 4-1 win over Barnsley, Derby will be more confident. Despite what Jokanovic may say, losing 3-1 at Birmingham was a bitter blow. Victory there would have taken Fulham up.
Slavisa Jokanovic speaks
I am really proud of my team. They had a fantastic regular season. We are ready, we are confident. We believe in our position, we believe in ourselves. We have 180 minutes or more ahead of us.
Gary Rowett speaks
Olsson has a very bad injury, in fact he will be out for nine months, I think. We need goals and Vydra has come into the last big games and scored against Cardiff and Barnsley. I want us to be as attacking as we can. We have to respect Fulham.
The prize, of course, for the clubs that see this ordeal through, is a cash bonanza of £160m. Note I didn’t use the word “teams” since promotion can mean the ripping up of the groups who make it up to the Premier League.
These teams will meet again at the Cottage on Monday, and as I have just been reminded, there are no away goals.
Simon McMahon emails in and he’s got it bad.
Evening John. Don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely got a bad case of PLAY-OFF FEVER. It’s the second leg of the Scottish Premiership semi-final between Livingston and Dundee United tonight (though the less said about that the better, from a United point of view anyway), and tomorrow I’m off to see the second leg of Cowdenbeath v Cove Rangers to decide who plays senior Scottish league football next season. I’m not sure my nerves can take it. Somebody call Dr. Football!!!
No sign of Hugh Grant doing similar just yet for his beloved Cottagers.
Some celeb support for the Rams tonight, Citizen Smith and My Family star, Robert Lindsay.
I know it’s an old shirt but I’m an old supporter just to wish all you #Rams and everyone at @dcfcofficial the very best #stevebloomerswatching pic.twitter.com/t1akl5Xqwc
— Robert Lindsay (@RobertLindsay) May 11, 2018
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Can what happened before tell us what to expect?
Last time these team met, Fulham won 2-1 at Pride Park in March, with goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ryan Sessegnon. Back in November, at Craven Cottage, it was a 1-1 draw, with Oliver Norwood scoring for Fulham and Matej Vydra for the Rams.
And on the other play-off, played tomorrow evening, here’s Louise Taylor.
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Here’s some further reading from Paul MacInnes.
What does that all mean?
Ayite Floyd comes in for Lucas Piazon for Fulham while for Derby, Marcus Olsson is missing after suffering a serious knee injury last week against Barnsley. Matej Vydra, the top scorer in the entire Championship, comes in for the full-back. Looks like Andreas Weimann will play as a wing-back for Gary Rowett.
The teams are here
Derby | Carson, Forsyth, Keogh, Lawrence, Wisdom, Johnson, Weimann, Vydra, Jerome, Davies, Huddlestone.
Fulham | Bettinelli, Fredericks, Sessegnon, Odoi, McDonald, Johansen, Cairney, Ayite, Ream, Targett, Mitrovic.
Your #DCFC team to face @FulhamFC this evening in the @SkyBetChamp Play-Off Semi-Final First-Leg, #dcfcfans... pic.twitter.com/qH0zxfKVQZ
— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) May 11, 2018
🔢 Here's how we line up against @dcfcofficial tonight 👊#FFC #FULFORCE pic.twitter.com/TSl9M93DEQ
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) May 11, 2018
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Hello, good evening and welcome
This is where the Championship season starts to end, with brutal bangs and plenty of whimpers. Neither Derby nor Fulham have happy memories of the play-offs. Between them, they have progressed from the end-of-season endurance test just once. Fulham have never won a single match while Derby’s only success, at the end of the 2006-07 Championship season, preluded the worst ever top-division campaign and a record low Premier League points total of 11 points the following year. Too much, too soon, it was said in glorious hindsight and Derby have never been back since.
This is their sixth attempt at the second-tier play-offs, with recent years seeing the Rams suffering a last-minute Wembley winner from QPR’s Bobby Zamora in 2014, and in 2016, under the aegis of temporary boss Darren Wassall, they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Hull City, where a second leg comeback was not enough to stage “Istanhull”. Perhaps things can be different under Gary Rowett, though he suffered the pain of play-off defeat twice with Burton Albion.
As for Fulham, Slavisa Jokanovic will want to avoid the pain of last season where Reading rode roughshod over a late charge into the top six. The Cottagers are trademarked by legal statute as the best footballing side in the EFL but judging by last week’s choke at Birmingham City, tiki taka is hard to maintain when an angry Midlands crowd is on your back and you were nervous in the first place.
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