Derby County 3 Blackburn Rovers 1

The Derby County Blog

February 28 2026

In the last couple of games, nobody has been sitting within five seats of me on my row in the East Stand. Today, though, my glorious isolation was over, as most of the usual suspects were back, including the lovely old gent who sits in the end seat, a couple down from me. I was a bit worried not to have seen him for a while, so it was good to catch up with him on the steps to the East Upper, as we both arrived just in time for kickoff.

After about 20 minutes of Derby struggling to get to grips with struggling Blackburn Rovers, he turned to me and said: "Why can't we play at home?"

There's a question. He was clearly genuinely baffled about it. My short answer was along the lines of, I think John Eustace's natural style is to coach counter attacking football, and we don't really play much ourselves, preferring to let the opposition have it, sitting, waiting for them to make a mistake. "I don't like it myself", I shrugged.

Ironic then that the opening goal of the game came courtesy of a brainless moment from Eustace's captain when Derby actually had possession of the ball. Joe Ward took a routine defensive throw-in to Matt Clarke, but off the ball, Yuki Ohashi had darted across the eyeline of Lewis Travis. For reasons only known to himself, Travis panicked and tugged the Japanese forward back. These things go unspotted all the time, but unluckily for Travis, this took place right in front of the referee, who immediately blew the whistle and booked him. Full punishment was then applied as Yuri Ribeiro swung in the free kick from the left and nobody tracked or marked one of Blackburn's biggest players, centre back Hayden Carter, who was granted the easiest of free headers past Josh Vickers.

Way to go, champs. And that put a shitty seal on what had been another colourless Pride Park first half, with the only exception being a fight breaking out after the veteran midfielder Adam Forshaw launched himself into a potentially dangerous tackle on Sam Szmodics, winning the ball first, but then following through with what looked to me like excessive force. Szmodics was sent flying and reacted with genuine outrage, shoving Forshaw to the ground. Pretty much everyone piled in at that stage, but once it had all fizzled out, the ref merely booked Forshaw and Szmodics, before giving Blackburn a throw in.

Nervy Derby hadn't controlled the game, but the only big Rovers chance of the first half came after Travis couldn't connect well enough with an attempted clearance from the goalline, which was collected by midfielder Moussa Baradji in a dangerous area. His pass into the box allowed Ohashi to spin very smartly away from Matt Clarke and fizz a drive what seemed only millimetres wide of Vickers' far post.

That was Blackburn's only outright chance of the first half, but they had undoubtedly shaded play, and so it wasn't really a surprise to see Rovers - who went into this game sitting 20th in the table - take the lead.

At the other end, the return of Carlton Morris hadn't made an immediate difference to a distinct lack of connection between Derby's front four, today made up of our three burliest forwards in front of Sam Szmodics. Blackburn's back three refused to allow Morris to dominate or hold the ball up, while Patrick Agyemang was only involved sporadically. Big Pat did escape on one occasion, however, showing his incredible pace and physicality to simply vaporise Baradji's attempts to cover him, before driving low into the body of goalkeeper Balasz Toth from the left channel. Both Ben Brereton Diaz and Szmodics were waiting for a pass in the centre, and it looked like the better option for Big Pat would have been the pass. The only other real chance of the half fell to Brereton Diaz, who escaped onto a well judged punt down the right flank from Morris, before having his shot from a difficult angle blocked out by Toth.

It had been another first half peppered with moans and groans from the stands, certainly not helped by another mediocre refereeing performance, which was serenaded in time-honoured fashion by the South Stand. Derby therefore went into the second half desperately needing to find a spark from somewhere.

Instead, they were very nearly in huge trouble straight after the interval, when Dion Sanderson and Clarke jumped for the same ball, collided and sent the loose ball spooning loose to Andri Gudjohnsen. It was lucky for Derby that the striker is a pale imitation of his legendary father, Eidur, who would have gobbled up that chance. With time standing still, and no defender in the same postcode, the young Gudjohnsen could only shank his volley well wide, with Vickers horribly exposed.

And having been granted the mother of all let-offs, wouldn't you know it, Derby managed to construct their first progressive passing move of the entire game, and score from it. After Brereton Diaz dribbled infield and Bobby Clark helped the ball on to Agyemang, new full back Derry Murkin made the crucial overlapping run down the left, and his cutback found Brereton Diaz in sufficient space to control and pick out the near bottom corner. A great team goal, and it was a huge relief. It woke up a previously moribund and fretful Pride Park, and it gave Blackburn Rovers a real test of mettle. Which they comprehensively failed.

From the moment of the equaliser, the flow of the game was more or less one-way. Blackburn had looked reasonably competent up until that point, without being particularly incisive, but on conceding the lead, they disappeared into their shells. In front of a now raucous home crowd, Derby seized complete control, and more than merited the goal that put them in front.

Rhian Brewster, introduced on the hour for Morris, clipped a high, looping cross towards the back post. From my angle behind Brewster, I couldn't really see what had happened, and the ball looked set to run out of play. Not so, as Szmodics was alert enough to keep the move alive, turning the ball back across goal from the byline, where Clarke reacted first to stab it home. On replay, it turned out that Eiran Cashin, returning to Derby as an opposition player for the first time, had managed to get something on the cross, but not enough to steer it out for a corner.

Having gone ahead, it was important not to drop off and give Blackburn a glimmer of hope. Derby didn't. To their credit, they turned the screw again, and were soon rewarded with the clinching third. After Clark turned the ball around the corner, Murkin hared down the wing again, and this time, clipped in a perfect cross for Brewster to meet with an emphatic, deeply satisfying header on the run which thumped into Toth's net. Boom, right in front of a South Stand which has been starved of such moments for too much of this season.

And that was basically that. The Rams saw the game out in plenty of comfort, and had fully redeemed themselves after another disjointed and unconvincing first half. Suddenly, instead of just dumping the ball forward for Agyemang or Morris to chase, they were finding ways to use quality to judge and execute passes between the lines before working the ball into the box. If Derby can do that more often, they have so many strikers or quasi-strikers in the team that you would always back one of them to get on the end of it and finish. The Rams didn't create as many opportunities as they did against Hull, but they also didn't commit as many defensive howlers. 45 minutes of true intensity and three goals was more than enough to see off this limited Blackburn side.

Positives abounded. Eventually. Morris getting through an hour on the pitch safely was a big one, and while he was clearly nowhere near match sharp, this is the only way he's going to get there. Bobby Clark started alongside Travis in central midfield and showed glimpses of his quality and ability to glide smoothly with the ball, or move it up the pitch. As the game wore on, he became more influential, was clearly enjoying himself, and I really enjoyed watching him play. He has poise on the ball, and we are starting to see why Red Bull Salzburg paid £10m for him from Liverpool. Szmodics showed energy and endeavour, and became more involved in play after the interval. Had Agyemang been unselfish enough to pass to Szmodics on the second half occasion when the number 10 was pointing with both hands at his extremely unmarked feet in almost desperation, then Szmodics very possibly could have scored his second goal for the Rams. At the back, Clarke was imperious and demonstrated that he can play as well as snuff out danger, when allowed. His goal felt like a fitting way to cap off the performance of a leading centre back at the level. Sanderson also performed well as Clarke's foil, and, fitness allowing, the duo could go on to form an excellent defensive partnership over the long term.

But the sponsor's man of the match was Murkin, promoted into the left back slot due to an injury suffered by Callum Elder, and making a matchwinning contribution with his brace of assists. Left backs aren't too easy to come by, and we've found one who is a good age, has good athleticism and some technical ability too. You can see that he's a player who started out as a winger, and he lives for the overlap. That desire to bomb on created overloads that Blackburn couldn't deal with, and it proved enough to make the difference here.

After Brewster crashed home the third goal, I tapped my friend on the shoulder and said: "Turns out they can play at home, after all!" While grinning my head off.

It was insane the difference that the equalising goal made. Suddenly, the intensity of Derby's play was doubled, while Blackburn completely shrank into themselves and forgot to play, showing the mindset of a team who were used to losing, and didn't have the strength of character or nous to do anything to turn the tide. Instead, it was Derby who bent the game to their will, and shattered Blackburn's resistance. As poor as the Rams had been in the first half, the second was as good as it they've been at home all season, and the three very well earned points took Derby over the fabled 50 point mark.

All smiles, then, and it was great to leave the stadium hearing laughter, people with their heads up and a spring in their step ."See you next weekend", said one guy to his mates as I passed him, and like the rest of us, he was obviously looking forward to it.