3/1 To Win
East Anglia is Derby County’s final destination of the calendar year. Their mission? To secure a fourth straight win away at Ipswich Town.
Unbeaten in eight on the road, the Rams will be looking to extend that to nine at Portman Road (kick-off: 3pm) and here, dcfc.co.uk has collated all the information you are going to need to know ahead of the trip to East Anglia…
WHAT’S THE LATEST TEAM NEWS
There is a doubt over the fitness of Bradley Johnson after he was forced off midway through Derby County’s goalless draw with Hull City on Boxing Day.
The 30-year-old midfielder fell heavily during the second half and was consequently forced off prematurely.
Gary Rowett has told the media that he is ‘touch and go’ for the next two matches.
There was a doubt too over the man that replaced him. Tom Lawrence fell awkwardly on his ankle shortly after being thrown into the action and appeared to be struggling.
The 23-year-old, though, looks set to be involved at Ipswich.
WHAT WAS SAID AHEAD OF THE TRIP TO IPSWICH?
Speaking to RamsTV about Boxing Day’s trip to Portman Road, Gary Rowett said: “We have to be a little bit more patient and make sure we take our chances when they come, and I’m sure we’ll have to deal with a different approach because I don’t believe they will sit in quite as much as they did away from home.
“They scored an early set piece and it was smash-and-grab for them because we dominated the game and they had very few chances.
“We just couldn’t find the breakthrough but that’s going to happen sometimes, we’ve had games where we’ve conceded more chances and got away with it.”
He added: “Ipswich is a difficult place to go, their home form is very good, they’re going well and they can put you under pressure if you don’t play with energy so we will make changes but I’m not sure how many.
“We’ve got a lot of players but at the moment we’re doing a lot of things well and there are some things that you don’t necessarily want to change.
“I’m not necessarily going to replace eight players, but we can make small adjustments and hopefully it won’t affect what we do.”
ONE TO WATCH
Since returning from his impressive stint with Scottish-side Rangers, Martyn Waghorn has slotted seamlessly back into football life in England.
From 24 appearances in the league so far this term, Waghorn has found the back of the net on 10 occasions and is proving to be an integral of the Tractor Boys’ strong first half of the 2017/18 season.
Graduating from Sunderland’s Academy of Light, Waghorn’s first senior appearance came in the Premier League in a 4-0 at home against Manchester United in 2007,
Over the course of the next three years, two separate loan spells at Charlton Athletic and Leicester City followed before the latter club made his move a permanent one for £3 million.
Interestingly, in January 2011, Waghorn almost joined the Rams on loan after failing to nail down a starting berth at the King Power Stadium, however, injury prevented the move from happening.
Failing to make a significant impact in front of goal at Leicester, loans spells at Hull City and Millwall followed for Waghorn before his eventual release.
The English forward was next picked up by Wigan Athletic on a free transfer in January 2014 before he moved to Rangers in July 2015.
The switch to Ibrox proved to be fruitful as Waghorn hit form once again, scoring on 44 occasions from 78 appearances in all competitions, before joining Ipswich where it seems he has simply picked up where he left off.
PAY ON THE DAY DETAILS
Tickets for Derby County’s final fixture of the calendar year at Ipswich Town this afternoon (3pm kick-off) will be available on arrival at Portman Road.
Supporters had the chance to pre-purchase tickets in advance of the fixture before they went off sale on Friday afternoon.
It has been confirmed that there will be NO PAY INCREASE on the day, but Rams fans will only be able to pay in cash only to secure their ticket away end turnstiles, which will be open from 1:30pm.
Ticket prices are as follows:
Adult – £25
Seniors (65+) – £22
Under-23s – £15
Under-19s – £8
If supporters need to collect their duplicate tickets, they are advised to do so by heading to the Away Ticket Centre near the away end.
WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME?
IPSWICH TOWN 0-3 DERBY COUNTY
Tuesday 31st January 2017
Three first half goals saw Derby County sweep Ipswich Town to one side with an impressive showing at Portman Road back in January.
Craig Bryson opened the scoring after a comfortable start to the evening, before Tom Ince thundered in his eleventh goal of the season with a sweet strike from the right corner of the box just three minutes later.
Darren Bent’s close-range header against his former club compounded a solid first half display, whilst the hosts were indebted to a string of saves from Bartosz Bialkowski to ensure the scoreline did not widen in the second half.
The result also saw Derby secure all three points at Portman Road for the third consecutive year, backing up successive 1-0 victories in the previous two years.
Ipswich Town: Bialkowski, Knudsen, Chambers (C), Berra, Skuse, Pitman (Moore, 65), Spence, Digby (McGoldrick, 36), Bru, Sears, Lawrence (Ward, 46)
Substitutes not used: Gerken, Douglas, Dozzell, Emmanuel
Derby County: Carson, Baird, Keogh (C), Pearce, Olsson; Johnson, Bryson, Butterfield; Ince, Camara (Anya, 56), Bent (Vydra, 69)
Substitutes not used: Mitchell, Christie, Shackell, de Sart, Blackman
Attendance: 14,719 (464 away supporters)
WHO’S THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE?
Oliver Langford will take charge of Derby County's 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship fixture at Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off).
Langford has overseen 23 games so far this season, producing a total of 76 yellow cards and three reds.
His last Derby game was the season-opener at Sunderland back in August, which ended in a 1-1 draw, while he also oversaw the Rams' 3-0 home victory against Rotherham United at Pride Park Stadium last season.
Langford will be assisted by Lee Venamore and David Avent on the lines, whilst Andy Woolmer has been appointed as the fourth official.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Coverage will then switch to Portman Road with live commentary from Jack Woodward and Shane Nicholson and supporters based outside of the UK and Republic of Ireland will be able to watch every kick of the action.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s coming up on RamsTV:
THURSDAY
- Pre-Match Press Conference (LIVE) (8.45am) – Head over to our Facebook page to watch Gary Rowett talk about Derby’s upcoming games against Ipswich Town and Sheffield United live from the Training Centre.
- Festive Review Show (6pm) – Owen Bradley is joined by former Derby players and club ambassadors, Roy McFarland and Shane Nicholson, as they look back on the games against Millwall and Hull before turning their attention on to the upcoming clashes with Ipswich and Sheffield United
FRIDAY
- Last Three – Ipswich Town (6pm) – Remind yourself of recent clashes between the Rams and the Tractor Boys, including that narrow 1-0 defeat at Pride Park last month.
- Fan Cam: Thoughts On 2017 (6.30pm) – RamsTV’s Kim Birtwistle asks Derby fans for their thoughts on how the club has done over the past 12 months.
SATURDAY
- Matchday Live: Ipswich Town Vs Derby County (14.15pm) - Owen Bradley will be joined by Michael Johnson and Kevin Wilson for live build-up to the Rams’ trip to Portman Road. The show will include stats, analysis and an exclusive pre-match interview with Gary Rowett.
- International RamsTV subscribers will be able to watch the full game with live commentary and half-time and full-time analysis from the RamsTV studio.
- Post-Match Extra: Ipswich Town (17.30pm approx.) – Owen Bradley will be joined live on the club’s official Facebook page with former Ram, Shane Nicholson, as they share your thoughts and answer your questions following the game against Ipswich.
SUNDAY
- Full Match Highlights: Ipswich Town Vs Derby County (12pm) - RamsTV will have all the goals, incidents and key match action from Derby’s trip to Portman Road.
- Matchday Relived: Ipswich Town Vs Derby County (6pm) – Catch up with RamsTV’s full coverage of Saturday afternoon’s match, including pre-game build-up, full match action, half time and full-time analysis and post-match reaction.
The RamsTV streaming service is available to all supporters who register on dcfc.co.uk.
To access the full RamsTV streaming service will cost the following:
First-Team Match Streaming (outside UK) - £110 annual subscription or £12.50 per month
First-Team Audio Commentary (worldwide) - £45 annual subscription or £5 per month
First-Team Pay Per Game - Match Streaming (outside UK) - £5 for the individual game
A link to packages can be found here.
The two premium services are in addition to the regular pre-match and post-match interviews on RamsTV.
Supporters will also be able to follow all of the action, as usual, across our social media channels.
We will be providing behind the scenes content across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where we will also provide a blow-by-blow account of proceedings at Portman Road.
