#nineinarow

The title speaks volumes and there's no other way to put it. Derby County have out-mastered us in every single one of the last nine matches. Its getting so predictable it might as well become a bank holiday. This one, ironically played on bank holiday Monday, was a dismal spectacle and it would be interesting to see the Sky Sports statistics to see how many viewers switched over to Antiques Roadshow after half an hour. Maybe they'd have seen an elderly gentleman trying to flog a Michael Brown or two.

Contrastingly to the first half an hour of Saturday's game, Leeds were shocking and at half time there had been little to write home about from either side. The hosts had come closest through a Paul Green strike that rattled the under-side of the crossbar whilst at the other end Paddy Kenny stuck out a foot to deny Conor Sammon. And that was about it for the first half which was a true epitomization of a game contested by two teams with nothing to play for. The only potential bright spark for the home fans was the long anticipated debut of young Chris Dawson. To give credit to the youngster, he showed a few nice touches and did try to keep the ball on the floor but, similarly to team-mate Dom Poleon is too weak and still to in-experienced for the first team.

The visitors, probably sensing that Leeds were again there for the taking had the first decent effort of the second half with Kenny beating away a long distance strike before Lee Peltier did well to clear ahead of the on-rushing Derby forwards. Shortly after the hour, Derby had the ball in the net through Leeds' Jason Pearce after a piece of embarrassing defending that summed up both the game and the whole season, but the goal was disallowed correctly for off-side with Sammon probably just about interfering with play. Down the other end, Austin drilled a shot wide after a good bit of pressure from the hosts, but it wasn't until Warnock introduced Ross McCormack for Dawson that the game was lit up with some much needed quality. The otherwise solid Derby back line failed to clear a corner and after an impressive lay-off by former Ram Paul Green, McCormack found the top corner with an outstanding curler from the edge of the area. With the game void of any class, three points now looked likely and Leeds' almost ridiculous relegation fears were put aside...for six minutes.

It was again a piece of poor defending, arguably a mistake, that saw the Rams draw level as Jason Pearce conceded a soft penalty after bundling over Conor Sammon. For all we know, the referee could have been Conor Sammon's brother; he was that useless and did have a matching bald head. The penalty, taken by Sammon himself, struck the post but rebounded straight to Coutts who applied the finish. Despite again rattling the bar through a Sam Byram header, Leeds offered little in response and never looked like re-gaining the lead, a lead which was, as usual in this game, taken by Derby. A Ben Davies free kick forced a good save from Kenny but the resulting corner was met with a powerful header from Jake Buxton that signalled another late goal conceded, another league defeat and a ninth straight defeat to the Rams. Boos and chants of "Warnock, Warnock, time to go" rang round Elland Road.

That he did, with Yorkshire Radio reporting that he would not be in charge for next week's game against Charlton Athletic. I've stuck with Warnock for much longer than most but even I can admit that things are getting slightly ridiculous. Today's performance was abysmal and its going to take a mini miracle to re-unite the fans with both the players and the club. A few of the players aren't worthy of the shirt and will surely not be around next season. Yes Luke Varney, I'm looking at you here.

The performance today would have probably seen us lose to everyone, but what is it about Derby? Clearly, I only watch them twice a season and although I always see them win, they never fail to impress me. I've always thought they under-achieve and with a better set of strikers this season, I think they could have made a real play-off push. Their back four is always solid and well-organised; Keogh and Buxton are the imposing centre halves Leeds have lacked for years but its the midfield that interests me the most. Hendrick, Coutts and Bryson, for me, are the three of the most intriguing players in the league in the sense that their excellent work goes un-noticed by the majority of fans that go to games to drink and watch their own team. Only by studying the whole game in detail do you appreciate the kind of work that the Derby midfield trio put in; as well as having a little bit of class, all three have their own individual jobs and execute them perfectly. Its the kind of thing that our midfield don't do. At all.

Leeds are now five points off the relegation zone and although relegation seems like a ridiculous concept, its turning into a possible one. We don't have anything to worry about just yet, but lose next week at The Valley and the game against Sheffield Wednesday could become a six-pointer. The bigger question however, is who will be in charge?