No doubt we’ll hear more of all that in due course. But in the meantime, here’s the verdict of your pal and mine, Paul Doyle, who was at Pride Park to witness another controversial stramash between these two famous rivals. Enjoy, enjoy. Thanks for reading this MBM. We’ll see you on Wednesday for the return!
To be fair to the referee, it’s pretty difficult to come down definitively either way regarding the non-penalty incident. Bogle put his hand on Harrison’s back and pushed. Harrison was going to kick the ball at the time. Bogle then put his leg in from behind ... but who kicked who as the pair tangled? And with what intent? They’ve rock and rolled it on Sky for a while, and nobody in the studio can say for sure. Anyway, I’m sure everyone on the internet, whatever their own viewpoint and interpretation, will agree to disagree.
Derby surround the referee at the final whistle, livid about the penalty kick that was awarded then withdrawn. Richard Keogh is particularly incensed, hollering at whoever will listen with great feeling. Jack Harrison, interviewed about it on Sky, is much calmer. “He came from behind me. I was a bit surprised they called the penalty, but it’s all about perspective. I was going to play the ball and had no intention to take him out. You try and play a fair game.” As if this rivalry needed spicing up any further! Wednesday night is going to be great.
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FULL TIME: Derby County 0-1 Leeds United
That’s a big result for Leeds, who have beaten Derby for the third time this season.
90 min +5: Harrison dribbles his way down the right and plays keepball. That’s mighty fine game management.
90 min +3: Mount tries to beat Casilla from distance, the keeper spotted a way off his line. But he gets the effort all wrong.
90 min +2: Bennett crosses from the right but it’s almost instantly blocked by Dallas. Clarke draws a foul from Wilson and there’s the clock ticking round apace.
90 min: There’s going to be another five minutes of this. And a second leg at Elland Road! That’s going to be fairly tasty, the way tempers have unravelled towards the end of this one.
89 min: Now Huddlestone is booked for sticking his elbow on the side of Dallas’s head. That could easily have been a red too, it was a clear second movement to make the contact.
87 min: Huddlestone comes on for Lawrence. Then Klich goes down in a tangle with Tomori on the edge of the Derby box. Derby clear. Tomori leans over Klich and has a word. Klich gets up and limply sticks his head in Tomori’s chest, a poor man’s Zidane. Tomori is livid and demands a red card’s shown. It’s so soft, the ref decides it’s just yellow. Grown men and all, the lot of them.
86 min: Space for Ayling out on the right. He fizzes a ball along the corridor of uncertainty, but Leeds haven’t thrown too many men up in support and there’s nobody to convert.
85 min: Leeds slow the game down. Derby’s frustration and irritation is palpable.
83 min: Leeds instigate a game of head tennis in the Derby box. The flag eventually goes up for offside. But the clock ticks on. Leeds have Derby where they want them ... a long way from their goal.
81 min: Shackleton is found in space on the right. He hammers a shot goalwards. Roos parries, Harrison slaps the rebound into the side netting, and the flag goes up for offside anyway.
80 min: Jack Clarke, Leeds’ young player of the year, replaces Roofe.
78 min: Not a penalty, then! It looks as though Bogle had gently pushed Harrison in the back before being taken out himself. It’s a big let-off for Leeds ... and Derby are naturally beside themselves with impotent fury.
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77 min: Penalty for Derby as Harrison bundles Bogle to the ground in the box, chasing a diagonal Wilson pass. But hold on! The linesman wants a word. Keogh is livid as Leeds surround the ref to point that out. Flapping around in irritation, Keogh nearly lands an accidental haymaker on Dallas and is pretty fortunate that he swishes through thin air!
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75 min: This is all very bitty again, and that’ll suit Leeds. Derby are unable to work up a head of steam.
73 min: In the dugout, Frank Lampard cuts a frustrated figure. He knows Derby need something desperately: no team has ever got through to a play-off final after losing the first leg at home. Then again, this is the season of absurd comebacks, so there’s another record that could soon be broken.
71 min: Ayling knocks Wilson to the ground. The resulting free kick, out on the right, is hoofed clear by Roofe, but the ball comes straight back at Leeds. Mount, on the left, whistles a fine ball straight through the six-yard box. Nobody in white is able to turn it into the net.
69 min: Holmes is replaced by Bennett.
68 min: Holmes is the latest to see yellow as he handles the ball to stop a Leeds attack. The resulting free kick, out on the right, is hoicked into the mixer. Cooper goes down theatrically, much to Derby’s collective annoyance. They want Cooper booked - he’d be walking if it happens - but the ref’s not interested. You’ve seen those decisions made. Cooper taking a hell of a chance there.
67 min: Keogh blocks a Roofe run and he’s in the book as well. A 1975-style 20-man bench-emptying brawl still not out of the question.
66 min: Now Cooper is booked as Wilson makes good down the inside right and is tugged back. It’s a free kick just to the right of the D. Wilson looks to curl it round the wall and into the top left, but Phillips is well positioned behind the wall and heads clear.
64 min: Berardi is booked for an earlier lunge while Derby were attacking. Then Nugent is replaced by Marriott.
63 min: This is better from Derby. Lawrence sashays down the right. He can’t quite get a shot away and lays off to Wilson, who wedges down the inside for Mount. A cute Cruyff turn nearly earns space for a shot, but Shackleton blocks well. And soon Leeds are on the break, Shackleton bearing down the right. He reaches the byline and cuts the ball back for Hernandez who must score but ... somehow mistimes his run and misses the ball!
61 min: Harrison bowls Bogle to the floor out on the Derby right. Another opportunity to load the box. Mount takes, but it’s a dismal wafted effort and so easy for Casilla to pluck the ball from the sky.
59 min: Derby look dazed. They’re still struggling to string more than a couple of passes together per move. They need to snap out of this quicksmart, or Leeds may take this tie away from them in the next half-hour.
57 min: Derby are rocking. Roofe is allowed to run towards the box, make himself some space, and batter a low shot towards the bottom right. Fortunately for Derby, Roos is their only player not in a daze, and a strong hand parries the shot to save the day.
56 min: Lawrence is booked for his challenge in the build-up to the goal.
GOAL! Derby 0-1 Leeds (Roofe 55)
When the opening goal came, it was so simple. Phillips is clattered in the midfield by Lawrence, but the referee waves play on because Harrison is romping down the left. Harrison curls a sensational pass inside for Roofe, who can’t miss, slipping a shot into the bottom left. That’s a glorious goal, made by Harrison’s wonderful ball inside that cut Malone, the final defender, out of the picture altogether.
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54 min: Ayling bundles Wilson over, out on the Derby right. A free kick, and an opportunity to throw men into the box. Wilson gets up and takes the set piece himself. It doesn’t beat the first man. Wilson has shone for Derby all season, but he’s been poor so far today.
52 min: Roofe clips Keogh as the defender runs down the right. Keogh lands awkwardly on his shoulder, but after rubbing it and grimacing quite a lot, he’s up and about again.
51 min: This is pretty scrappy. Premier League spot in the balance here, chaps!
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49 min: Two-pass Derby moves are at a premium right now.
47 min: Space for Klick down the right. He hooks into the middle. Harrison comes in from the left and connects. A shot on target, but it comes off Bogle’s backside and deflects out for a corner. The resulting set piece isn’t up to much. But for a second back there, Derby hearts were in mouths.
It’s the second half! Derby get the party restarted under the evening sun. There have been no half-time changes.
Half-time entertainment. Another big game tomorrow, eh?
HALF TIME: Derby 0-0 Leeds
There’s just enough time for Harrison and Roofe to combine down the left and pull the ball back for Dallas, who pulls a shot wide right from the edge of the box. But no matter, because the ball had previously gone out for a goal kick. And that’s the end of a scrappy first half. Plenty of room for improvement.
45 min: Harrison swans in from the left and sends a long ball towards Roofe at the far post. Derby are forced to concede a corner. Phillips takes, and takes dreadfully. Soon enough, the ball’s back on the halfway line.
43 min: Holmes is bundled over by Phillips just inside the Leeds half. Derby load the box. Mount sends the free kick straight out for a goal kick. That just about sums up Derby’s performance so far, that early promising burst aside.
41 min: Roofe romps towards the Derby area, through a lot of space in the midfield, but loses a bit of confidence when he approaches the box. A promising move peters out. Derby were very light at the back there. Leeds have been the better side, but the final pass has been consistently poor.
40 min: Ayling probes down the right again. He’s got team-mates in the box, but floats harmlessly towards the far post, where Roos stands alone and plucks the ball from the sky with a yawn.
38 min: A sensational run down the right by Ayling, who nutmegs Malone then knocks the ball past Tomori and rounds him. Ayling enters the box and cuts the ball back to ... nobody. Shame, because that build-up play would have made for a fine goal.
37 min: Lawrence runs hard at Leeds down the left, but runs out of steam before he gets to the box. He lays off for Wilson, who attempts to return the ball with a cheeky lifter over the Leeds backline, but it’s not cheeky enough and the visitors are able to clear.
35 min: Leeds continue to dominate both in terms of possession and territory, but they’ve yet to force Roos into serious action. At some point they’ll have to make it count.
33 min: Tomori slides in with two feet on Shackleton. The young winger leaps over the challenge and keeps going. No contact. An older, wiser, more cynical player might have made sure of contact there and purchased a free foul. And Tomori would have been in a world of trouble, because he was out of control, studs showing. When play finally stops, the referee has a quiet word, telling the young defender to watch himself. Good fuss-free refereeing.
31 min: Another strong run by Holmes, this time down the inside-left channel, but just as Leeds were beginning to look vulnerable he overhits a through ball intended for Nugent and Casilla is able to come out and smother.
29 min: Harrison dinks a clever pass down the inside-left channel to release Klich into the box. Klich reaches the byline and tries to find Roofe in the middle, but Tomori is able to flick away. Derby were once again nearly opened up there.
27 min: Shackleton races down the left and is nearly set free into the box by a sliderule Harrison pass. Keogh slides in to hook the ball clear, a superb challenge just as the young sub was preparing to shoot.
25 min: Holmes tears down the inside-right channel, making it from the halfway line to the edge of the box. A one-two with Nugent nearly comes off, but Leeds bundle the ball away just in time. The first promising Derby move for a little while.
23 min: Forshaw is down injured. It doesn’t look as though he’s going to continue. He gets up and holds his hamstring. Then trudges off. On comes the 19-year-old Jamie Shackleton.
21 min: Leeds are well on the front foot now. Dallas rumbles down the left and slips a pass forward to Harrison, who earns yet another corner. Phillips sends another ball through the Derby six-yard box, but yet again nobody in blue can take a decisive touch. Derby’s defence is all over the shop at these set-pieces.
19 min: A simple long ball down the middle nearly does for Derby, Roofe quickly racing after it with the home defence plodding. Roos hesitates in coming out to meet it, too. But the ball takes a hot bounce and runs away from Roofe, just as it looked as though the striker might be able to get a shot away.
18 min: Another Leeds corner down the right, this time won by Hernandez. Phillips takes. It’s half cleared. Klich shanks a shot from distance. Roofe tries to rescue the situation with an improvised bicycle kick as the ball squirts towards him, but can only send his effort well wide left.
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16 min: Ayling’s low cross from the right is deflected out for a corner. Derby don’t deal with it, the ball sailing through the six-yard box, but fortunately for the home side there’s nobody in blue to force it home. Derby eventually clear their lines, but after a dominant period they’ve ceded the initiative to Leeds.
14 min: A slight lull after a hectic start. Everyone deserves a break.
12 min: Leeds are growing into the match at last. Dallas, striding in from the left, sends a power curler towards the top right. It’s only just over the bar. Roos probably had that covered, had it been on target, though the shot was travelling some so it would have had to be a strong hand.
11 min: Harrison crosses from the left, and Malone concedes a needless corner, chesting out under no pressure whatsoever. The resulting set piece isn’t anything to write home about. But a little better from Leeds, who have been quiet so far.
10 min: Derby pin Leeds back. Lawrence has a dig from distance. It’s blocked. Holmes has another go. That one’s blocked too. Mount tries to set up Wilson with a cushioned header, but it’s cleared. Of the two teams, Derby have started much better.
8 min: A beautiful flowing move by Derby, Mount at the centre of it. Wilson then sails in from the right flank and plays a cute pass down the channel for Nugent, whose shot is deflected over for a corner. Nothing comes from the set piece, but that’s very promising for the home side.
7 min: Bogle shuttles in from the right and rolls a pass across to Lawrence, who hits a first-time curler towards the top right. It’s always going to be miles wide, and Casilla ushers it calmly out of play.
5 min: Wilson rips down the right and looks to have been bundled over by Dallas, but there’s nothing doing. Wilson springs up in fury, but the referee’s not changing his mind. We play on.
3 min: A free kick for Derby out on the right. Mount hoicks it into the penalty box. The ball skims off the top of Tomori’s head and Leeds are able to clear their lines.
2 min: Roofe sends a cross into the Derby area from the right. Hernandez shapes to meet the dropping ball with a volley, but he’s closed down just in time.
We’re off! Leeds get the ball rolling, and keep hold of it awhile. Just about. It’s all high-speed scrappiness in the very early stages.
The teams are out! A rare old atmosphere at Pride Park. Just as Lampard and Bielsa prepare to shake hands, Sky cut to some betting advert or other. We do see Lampard shake hands with everyone else in the Leeds dugout, so that’s something. We’ll be off in a sec!
Frank Lampard talks! “They’re a good team and caught us cold early in the season, and we didn’t turn up at Elland Road, we didn’t play our game. So what we need to do is bring our personality to the party. Those two games should be in the back of our mind, but we’re in a different place now, so we can approach this game differently.”
Marcelo Bielsa speaks! “Every game is different, even if it’s the same rival. The fact that we won the last two games doesn’t indicate a specific trend for this game.”
Spygate revision notes.
Kit watch. Derby will wear their famous white shirts today. I’d hoped to post a snap of them wearing that kit during their 1970s pomp, but our retro Derby archive isn’t as comprehensive as one would hope. So here they are enjoying that aforementioned bit of rough-house with Leeds in 1975. In, er, black and white. Imagine Leeds in yellow. Still, the official caption for the pic is quite magnificent.
Leeds will therefore be forced into their change strip of blue. That used to be their first-choice colour back in the day, before Don Revie boldly rebranded the club. Here’s a pic of Leeds defender Jack Charlton in that blue shirt, though admittedly, again, the impact is somewhat lessened by the fact it’s in black and white. To be honest this feature could have gone a lot better, but here we are.
Pre-match reading. Our man Ben Fisher has been chatting to Fikayo Tomori, Derby’s player of the season. Here are the fruits of that conversation. Click and enjoy!
Derby County boss Frank Lampard makes a single, enforced change to the team he picked for the 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion last week. David Nugent deputises for the injured Martyn Waghorn.
Marcelo Bielsa of Leeds United also makes just the one alteration, and this is enforced as well. Gaetano Berardi replaces the injured Pontus Jansson, otherwise it’s the XI selected for the 3-2 defeat at relegated Ipswich Town last week.
The teams
Derby County: Roos, Bogle, Tomori, Keogh, Malone, Mount, Johnson, Wilson, Holmes, Lawrence, Nugent.
Subs: Carson, Jozefzoon, Marriott, Evans, Bennett, MacDonald, Huddlestone.
Leeds United: Casilla, Ayling, Berardi, Cooper, Dallas, Phillips, Hernandez, Forshaw, Klich, Harrison, Roofe.
Subs: Peacock-Farrell, Brown, Shackleton, Clarke, Struijk, Gotts, Bogusz.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
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Preamble
Leeds versus Derby, then. Marvellous.
And that’s without bringing Brian Clough and Don Revie into it!
But this season’s shenanigans have been pretty tasty as well, Frank Lampard and Marcelo Bielsa falling out over Spygate, all that. Leeds thrashed Derby 4-1 on their own turf back in August, and followed it up with a 2-0 win at Elland Road in January. But Derby have won four of their last six, drawing the other two, while Leeds blew their chance of automatic promotion in style, picking up only one point from the final 12 on offer. So this play-off semi-final first leg is poised deliciously. It might even go off 70s style. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.15pm.
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