Derby County have been slammed for missing ‘such a good chance’ against Northampton Town yesterday.
Derby County missed the opportunity to go seven points clear of third-place this weekend as they were beaten by Northampton Town – bringing their four-game winning streak to an end.
The Rams had been battered with injury problems this season and had so far handled them well, though the absence of Dwight Gayle proved to be too much for them on their trip to Sixfields Stadium.
Martyn Waghorn returned to the starting line-up for the first time in five months, but was unable to fill the glaringly obvious hole left by both Gayle and James Collins.
It was a weak performance by the Rams, who were beaten by a first-half goal from Sam Hoskins, gifting Northampton their first victory in a month.
It was yet another brilliant chance passed up by Paul Warne‘s side, with Bolton, Peterborough and Barnsley all able to go within a point of Derby if they win their games in hand.
Derbyshire Live journalist Leigh Curtis has now criticised Derby for their ‘frustrating’ display yesterday. He wrote on X: “My major gripe today was that it was such a good chance to put some daylight between the chasing pack, but performance didn’t reflect that. Was tired and lacked inspiration. Top two still in Derby’s hands, but today gave them less room for error. Frustrating.”
Could Derby County miss out on promotion?
Derby County have been in the automatic promotion spots since beating Charlton Athletic at the start of February, however they could have pretty much had it all wrapped up by now if they hadn’t dropped points against beatable teams.
Since then, they have drawn to Shrewsbury and lost to Barnsley, Charlton and Northampton, yet still haven’t dropped out of the top two because their rivals have also dropped points too.
The Rams could have been well clear of third by now and may well have found themselves top.
We can accept that the squad has been struck with injuries this season, but that doesn’t warrant the poor performances that have been on display on several occasions.
if Derby do actually miss out on the automatics then Paul Warne will have a lot to answer to, especially given their disastrous second half of the 2022/23 campaign too.
It will be interesting to see where his position stands at Pride Park if they do miss out on the top two – even if they are to win the play-offs. Though it has been 17 years since they last won the play-offs – failing at their previous four attempts.