I'VE just about thawed out after a freezing night at Pride Park in Derby, writes Alan Houghton of Bradshaw.

I seem to remember the old Baseball Ground being warmer or maybe that was just the Derby fans welcome in those days, especially when Roy Greaves punched a goal in the his fist and the only person who didn’t see it was the referee.

Pride Park is quite an impressive stadium and it has certainly got more grass than their old ground. I bet their fans keep pieces of mud as souvenirs of the Baseball Ground.

There was precious little to warm me up in the first half with lots of endeavour from both sides but little quality.

Defensively we looked sound with the midfield and back four getting the tackles in but not much happening up front, where Craig Davies and Ngog started in place of Super Kev and De Ridder while Eagles, my man of the match for effort, got the nod ahead of Mark Davies.

Just as we were settling for a goalless first half, Craig Dawson got his head on a nicely floated free kick from Spearing and we were one up and looking good for the win.

Unfortunately, half time intervened because we didn’t look the same team in the second half. After a bright first ten minutes when we could have increased the lead, it was downhill all the way after that.

We defended resolutely as in the first half with defence and midfield putting bodies on the line but we couldn’t hold onto the ball up front and the pressure on the defence was relentless and it was no surprise when Derby equalised when Ward sneaked in at the far post with 10 minutes to go. Bogdan again earned his keep in the second half with several first class saves.

Super Kev and Sordell replaced Craig Davies and Ngog and Mark Davies came on for Eagles but if anything this made things worse. But we held out for a point against another play-off contender but I can’t help thinking Derby were there for the taking.

They we re poor but we still have a long way to go before matches like these are a comfortable three points.

Not too much to shout about on the catering front. We had an adequate meal at the Wyvern before the match, which wouldn’t have spoilt anyone’s diet and the beer was £3.80 for a 500cc bottle of lager in the ground.

Who says that the Government’s minimum alcohol tax wouldn’t work when you need your credit card to get a round in!