Steven Gerrard - into the world of management

Next up is the big one ... the local rivals, Nottingham Forest! Just before the match we had some more injury news ...

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Attacking midfielder, Benjamin Verbic was ruled out for 6 weeks with a sprained ankle.​

So, lets see how the sides line up ...

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Its pretty much same old for us. Osmar keeps his place in front of the defence with George Thorne still injured.

The only real change we had to make was put Craig Bryson into the midfield and move Will Hughes further forward due to Verbic being injured for the game.

It's up front where we can really win the game, Darrent Bent and Cameron Jerome are capable of winning the game on their own if they get decent support.​

Lets see about Forest ...

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Forest must be a little worried by our form as they've gone for a flat back 5 by moving Chris Cohen from midfield back to left back.

Their danger men are definitely Antonio, Assombalonga, Lansbury and Reid. Although I don't know how much a danger Reid will be playing from a wide position.​

Lets see how the game went ...

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What a great win!

We were so quick out the blocks that Forest didn't know what hit them.

Darren Bent got us on our way after just 19 minutes, although we had plenty of good opportunities to get the first goal before then.

Strike partner, Cameron Jerome then doubled the lead 5 minutes later. Our dominance really showed when Craig Bryson broke from midfield and slotted home to make it 3.

In a way I'm a little disappointed we didn't score more! We were so good that we should have gone on to score 4 or even 5.​
 
That Forest game was also the end of the month meaning we really ended February on a high ...

At the end of February, the league table looked like this ...

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We keep our place in the play off positions by staying 6th.

We only have 11 games to go so if we can keep this up we should ensure a play off finish.

It's still so tight though with Huddersfield on the same points in 7th and Watford only 3 behind in 8th.

On the other hand we're only 2 behind Sunderland who sit in 2nd and an automatic promotion place.


Our good form didn't go unnoticed with the monthly awards.​

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Will Hughes went on to win the Young Player of the month award.

Hughes had been brilliant and set up countless goals recently, his best performance was arguably when we moved him further forward behind the strikers.


We also won some more praise ...​

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We also came very close to bringing the manager of the month award back to Pride Park as well.

Normally 4 wins from 6 games will win you this award but Tony Mowbray at Wolves went one better than us and claimed the award.


The last bit of news from the month is a little 'off topic'.​

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Old pal, Jamie Carragher starts his managerial career at Oldham in League One.

Let's see how we can get on.​
 
CHAT WITH JAMIE CARRAGHER AFTER TAKING OLDHAM JOB:​

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Steven Gerrard: Hey Jamie, I just wanted to wish you all the best at Oldham. Tough job there mate!

Jamie Carragher: Cheers mate. Tell me about it. Will be a real challenge.

Steven Gerrard: What do you think your chances are of staying up?

Jamie Carragher: Will be tough. Certainly don't put any money on it. We're bottom of the league and 14 points off safety with 11 games left. Fancy sending me any loans?

Steven Gerrard: Sounds tough mate! All the best though!

Jamie Carragher: Glad to see things going so well at Derby! You'll be back at Anfield in no time at this rate.

Steven Gerrard: I wouldn't go that far but things are good at the minute. They're a great bunch of lads who can all play.

Hope to see in you in the Premier League soon.
 
Back to Derby, and back to action. We now faced Norwich sitting in the bottom half of the table.

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Another very good win to keep our promotion chase on!

Although Norwich are in the bottom half they still have some great payers. Half the team they put out against us is capable of playing in the Premier League already.

The first half was a little boring with no real chances for either side. Chris Martin then opened the scoring by winning and converting a penalty just after half time.

Darren Bent then doubled the lead with just over 10 minutes to go before we made it 3 through Chris Martin again.​

After this win we move into 3rd place in the league

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Even though we're 3rd we're still only 3 points clear of 7th place Huddersfield. We're now breathing down the necks of Crystal Palace and are just a point behind.​
 
Next up was 3rd vs 4th with us taking on Wolves at Molineux.


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Although this is a decent point, I cant help feeling disappointed we could see out our lead and go away with all 3 points.

A draw was probably fair, although I think we just about edged it over the course of the game.

Chris Martin scored his 3rd in 2 goals to put us 1-0 just before half time. Osmar then conceeded a late penalty which Bjorn Sigurdarson converted late on.

This keeps us up there but we drop down to 4th.​
 
We now went on to play Bristol City which should be a very winnable game.

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A disappointing draw here, this is really one we should have won!

We got off to a good enough start with Darren Bent netting within 5 minutes, some bad defending then allowed Bobby Reid through on goal who equalised just 2 minutes later.

We then re-took the lead through Chris Martin who continues his good goalscoring form to recapture the lead. Once again though we allowed Bobby Reid through on goal who equalised for the second time.

We then just didn't quite do enough to grab the winner.

This means we now drop down to 6th place with 9 games to go.​
 
The next game should really be classed as 'easy'. An away trip to face Leyton Orient who are second bottom.


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What a disappointment!!

Osmar got us off to a good start with a good finish.

But then Orient got back into it and equalised just 3 minutes later.

We didn't play that badly but we jut didn't do enough to win the game. We then pushed everyone forward late on and probably went too attacking which Orient then capitalised on. They grabbed the winner in injury time with a breakaway goal from our attack.​
 
Now another very winnable game, a home game against Brighton who are 3rd bottom. We really need to win this one after our recent poor run of form.

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A great win and just what we needed.

A great start which saw us take a 2 goal lead in less than 10 minutes. Goals from Darren Bent and Cameron Jerome ensured us of the win.

We never really looked back from here and defended really well to ensure the clean sheet and the win.​
 
That win finished off the month with at least something to cheer about ...

We finish the month and remain in the play off positions.

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We finish March in 4th place.

Although we're still only 3 points clear of Watford who now occupy 7th place.

We're also only 3 points off 2nd place Wigan who we play in a couple of weeks.

It really could go either way in the last 6 games of the season.​
 
We now go on to play Bolton in another game we really should be winning.

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Another good result but not a great performance. We'll have to improve on this showing if we want to challenge the top 2.

A late goal by Cameron Jerome bagged us the win in a very close game.

If it ended in a draw, I don't think we could have really complained.​

After this win, we move up one place into 3rd and remain 3 points behind Wigan in second.

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We play Wigan away in a couple of weeks so if we can remain just 3 points behind by then, we'll have the opportunity to overtake them due to our superior goal difference.​
 
We now take on another side battling with relegation in Millwall.

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Another good win, and this time a good performance as well.

This was getting back to our best!

Even though we played really well, Millwall still went on to take the lead just after half time. To make matters worse it was Derby old boy, Connor Sammon who grabbed the opener.

That seem to bring us to life though and Darren Bent turned on the style with a classy brace to win us the game.​

Even more good news was Wigan slipped up in the same game week ...

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This meant we overtook Wigan and went into second place.

Currently joint points with Wigan in third and Wolves in top spot.

We face Wigan next which could end their hunt for automatic promotion.​
 
Now the big one ... 2nd vs 3rd ...

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What a shocker!!

We didn't even need to win this game, a point would have been a brilliant result.

We probably went too attacking, in hindsight we should have put another defender in and played for a draw.

This now really puts Wigan in the driving seat now as we drop back down to 3rd and are again, 3 points behind Wigan who re-take 2nd spot.​
 
With 3 games to go, we had to win all 3 and hope that Wigan slip up somewhere down the line ...

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A good start to the run in with a fairly straigh forward 1-0 win over a Cardiff side who were only just outside the play off spots.

Darren Bent with the only goal of the game after just 3 minutes. We then defended very well and saw out the game to win it 1-0.

This win saw us re-take second place, although Wigan now have a game in hand after competing in the FA cup this weekend instead of the league.​

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With 2 games to go and Wigan still with that game in hand, we had to win here against a Huddersfield side with nothing left to play for ...

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And win we did!

A great performance and hattrick from Chris Martin ensured we go into the final game of the season with a real chance of automatic promotion.

This win guarantees us a place in the play offs, but we want more than that now ...​

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Wigan still have that game in hand which means the chase for the top 2 will be contested by, Wolves, Derby, Wigan and Watford.​
 
Just before the final game of the season, Wigan had their game in hand ...

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This couldn't have gone better for us, with Norwich beating Wigan meaning they remain in third spot and behind us on goal difference.

This means the table is like this going into the 46th and final game of the season ...​

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The top 4 sides will all challenge for the top 2 spaces then on the final day of the season.

A win should guarantee us at least second place, although a massive win for Wigan and they could overtake us on goal difference.

Its definitely going to be tight.​
 
that's as close it can be, really!
all the best for the final game..
 
FINAL DAY OF THE SEASON

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Games of interest are:

Bristol City v Wigan

Derby v Leeds

Watford v Sunderland

Wolves v Cardiff

DERBY V LEEDS
Minute 7 - penalty awarded to Derby + red card to Vann. Chris Martin scores penalty DERBY 1-0 LEEDS.

Minute 8 - Penalty awarded and converted for Cardiff (against Wolves. WOLVES 0-1 CARDIFF.

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Minute 15 - Leeds equalise against Derby through Billy Sharpe - DERBY 1-1 LEEDS

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Minute 23 - Bristol City take lead against Wigan through Billy Reid - BRISTOL 1-0 WIGAN

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Minute 45 - Bristol City double lead against Wigan - BRISTOL 2-0 WIGAN

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HALF TIME

Minute 55 - Watford take the lead through Estigarriba - WATFORD 1-0 SUNDERLAND

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Minute 62 - Penalty awarded and scored by Marco Pizzeli for Leeds. DERBY 1-2 LEEDS

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Minute 78 - Michael Turner doubles Cardiff's lead against Wolves. WOLVES 0-2 CARDIFF

Minute 78 - Another goal as Ashton Gate. BRISTOL CITY 3-0 WIGAN

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Minute 88 - Kaboul hits crossbar for Derby - still DERBY 1-2 LEEDS

Minute 89 - Johnny Russell equalises for Derby - DERBY 2-2 LEEDS

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