Derby County suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night, with Conor Hourihane especially bad.
In what was a stark contrast in performance to Saturday’s 3-0 win over Barnsley, the Rams lost 1-3 at Pride Park in the replay of the FA Cup first round.
Tom Barkhuizen gave Derby the lead in three minutes, which initially gave the impression that this may be a comfortable night for Paul Warne’s side.
But Aaron Rowe equalised for the visitors just four minutes later, before completing the turnaround himself in the 21st minute.
The Alex then extended their lead in the 65th minute through Mickey Demetriou, to seal their place in the second round where they will host League One side Bristol Rovers.
One player that stood out in particular for Derby was their captain on the night, Conor Hourihane, but not for the right reasons.
Journalist on ‘poor’ Derby midfielder
Journalist Leigh Curtis for the Derby Telegraph rated Hourihane at three out of ten in his player ratings, having this today about the Irishman:
“A desperately poor night for the captain who was guilty of passing square in his own half that was cut out by Aaron Rowe and led to Crewe’s second that handed the visitors the advantage they never looked like surrendering.”
Hourihane struggles again
The 32-year-old had one of the worst performances on the pitch out of all the players.
Despite Crewe being one of the better teams in the division below, there is still no reason for Derby to be putting in a performance as bad as that.
Hourihane struggled in the middle of the park. Overall, given his quality and experience, he has been disappointing so far this season, and needs to step up if he is to retain his starting spot in the team.