Derby County 0-1 Doncaster Rovers (2008)

Derby County 0-1 Doncaster Rovers
Coca-Cola Championship
Saturday 9th August 2008

The calm before the storm at Pride Park (Photo: Unknown).

This was a landmark occasion - a day to be savoured for absolutely everyone associated with Doncaster Rovers, regardless of the result, as the club arrived in the Championship.

Having not played in the second tier for exactly 50 years, the dream of a return to that level was further away than it'd ever been before when John Ryan became owner in 1998, with Rovers having dropped into non-league football on the back of a shambolic relegation campaign.

The 1998/99 season saw trips to Dover, Leek and Farnborough as Rovers only just avoided what would have been another humiliating relegation. Fast-forward a decade and after arguably the greatest ever football transformation, trips to Wolves, Southampton and Norwich were instead on Rovers fans' agenda. It had been some journey and this was another champagne occasion.

Pride Park. Where a new era began for DRFC (Photo: Unknown).

Derby, on the other hand, were probably glad, if not relieved, to be back in the Championship themselves, having endured a torrid and torturous time in the Premier League in 2007/08 where they broke nearly every record going. The Rams picked up just 11 points, won just once all season, and regularly got smacked and slaughtered on the pitch - shipping 89 goals amidst tears, tantrums and a complete crisis of confidence. Under pressure from the day he took charge, Paul Jewell, who'd replaced Billy Davies as manager in the previous November, was still awaiting his first victory.

A capacity crowd of 33,000 poured into Pride Park for the season-opener with home fans expecting, hoping and probably even praying they could get a victory instead of extending their winless streak to 36 games in all competitions. For the 3,000 visiting fans, being at this level was a novelty.

Derby's starting line-up included a certain Paul Green, who'd been a key figure in Rovers' resurgence before penning a deal at Pride Park only a few days after the infamous League One Play-Off Final win over Leeds United. He featured alongside other well-known names such as Roy Carroll, Nathan Ellington and Kris Commons. Robbie Savage was on the substitutes bench. Every player in Donny's line-up had played in League One, the previous year.

Rovers fans turned out in great numbers (Photo: Unknown).

As 'Steve Bloomer's Watching' belted out of the Pride Park PA system at five to three and the teams walked out of the tunnel (this was a new regulation for 2008/09 along with a pre-match handshake) the entire away end, seated behind one of the goals', erupted with noise and released red and white balloons. It was a case of 'This is it. This is the Championship. It is happening' as the excitement, hope and realisation felt tangible in that very moment as the game got underway.

Lewis Guy was sometimes 'the fall guy' (in more ways than one) and when he went to ground under a challenge from Alan Stubbs, just infront of the goal where the Rovers fans were seated, there were cries for a spot-kick but nothing was given.

Generally, Rovers adapted themselves well - knocking the ball around in a neat and tidy fashion, whereas Derby struggled to create any serious rhythm within their play. All the Rams' best openings fell to Rob Hulse and there would have some serious controversy had his 'hand ball' effort from a cut-back found the net as opposed to ricocheting off the post. Referee Andy D'Urso and his assistants didn't notice it, even though everyone else in Pride Park seemed to!

Guy caused a plethora of problems with his pace, trickery and movement and hooked a shot straight at Carroll in Rovers' next attack, before Hulse got on the end of another right-sided ball and connected, this time with his feet, but his powerful shot only rippled the outside of the net. Some Derby fans were on their feet in celebration, nevertheless, until they realised it was still 0-0.

Gareth Taylor, who'd earlier gone close with a shot from the edge of the area, then almost opened the scoring just a few minutes before the half-time break when his header forced Caroll to scramble across his goal-line and tip the ball wide. It was close, but still no cigar.

Derby introduced everyone's favourite football villain, Robbie 'Lily' Savage, at half-time as he replaced Przemysław Kaźmierczak whose name would probably contribute more in a game of Scrabble than he ever did in a Rams shirt.

However, it was still Rovers dictating the play with Guy (now wearing an unnumbered shirt) remaining the chief tormentor, and just after the hour-mark he scored what would prove to be the all-important goal. Following a quick free-kick and a clever 'dummy' by James Hayter, which fooled a defender, Guy was in a perfect position inside the box to tuck a shot past Carroll and send the 3,000 travelling fans down at the other end of the pitch absolutely delirious!

Incredibly, he could have made it 2-0 not long afterwards when Richie Wellens' left-sided ball was knocked to him by Taylor, thus allowing the youngster to unleash a powerful drive which stung the palms of Carroll's goalie gloves.

Derby were all over the place by this point. They looked rattled, disjointed and struggled to string two meaningful passes together as the game edged towards its finale. Unrest and fury was growing amongst the home fans watching on and proof of their frustration was evident when Brian Stock was penalised for a foul on Savage, who wanted an advantage to be played, only for the referee to bring it back and award a free-kick.

Pride Park was packed (Photo: Unknown).

The six minutes of injury-time at the end of the game seemed excessive and the closest the Rams came to an equaliser during that period was when Martin Albrechtsen hooked a shot over Neil Sullivan's goal after a free-kick into the danger zone caused something of a scramble.

It looked as if the home fans, or at least those who hadn't left early in disgust, were resigned to an opening day defeat. Paul Jewell cut a forlorn figure on the touchline and the final whistle was met by a chorus of boos, jeers and insults from the home crowd. In stark contrast, Rovers' travelling army of 3,000 were singing, cheering and applauded their heroes off with the afternoon on the whole being a case of 'job well done'.