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Oss emerge on top as Dutch side deal Derby double blow

Saturday, July 12, 2008, 08:00

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NOTHING is won and lost in pre-season, fortunately, because although this was Derby County's first friendly in preparation for the Championship campaign, it was not a good show.

Fixtures at this stage are about building the players' fitness so that they are ready for when the real business starts against Doncaster Rovers on August 9.

Pre-season is a means to an end and reading too much into results is unwise – but nobody likes to lose. As manager Paul Jewell indicated when asked for his pre-match thoughts, the Rams have won so few games in recent memory that any victory, even in a friendly, would be most welcome.

Derby, flat in the first half and slightly better after the break, never really threatened to chalk up a victory against TOP Oss in Holland last night and the Dutch Second Division side won 2-0 with goals either side of half-time.

The closest Derby came to scoring was when Martin Albrechtsen, the pick of the Rams players on the night, met Gary Teale's corner and his firm header was arrowing towards the net until Sjors de Bruijn plunged to his left to keep it out.

Albrechtsen's reading of the game at the heart of the defence and his pace to snuff out potential danger caught the eye.

He was one of four summer signings to start the game. The others were Jordan Stewart, Stephen Davies and Nathan Ellington but Paul Green and Kris Commons missed out with injuries.

Green has a slight groin strain and Commons has been troubled by tight hamstrings. Experienced defender Alan Stubbs also watched on due to a thigh problem.

Albrechtsen started at centre-back alongside Lewin Nyatanga, Stewart was at left-back, Davies on the left of midfield and Ellington's strike partner was Emanuel Villa.

Dean Leacock was in the centre of a four-man midfield with skipper Robbie Savage but while the Rams gave the ball away cheaply, TOP Oss took greater care with it and produced the more constructive football in the opening 45 minutes.

They took a deserved lead 10 minutes before the break when the cut Derby open.

Roel van de Sande's raking pass picked out Erik van der Ven, who slotted the ball across goal for the unmarked Mike Thijssen to beat Roy Carroll from 10 yards.

Derby, wearing their new home strip, had survived a scare earlier in the half when an identical move saw a cross drop to Aziz Moutawakil but the ball, wet from a torrential downpour, squirted off his boot and wide.

Carroll had been relatively untroubled, mainly because Albrechtsen and Nyatanga produced important clearances in front of him, but the keeper did well to slide out and save at the feet of Thijssen.

Little had been seen of Derby as an attacking threat. Villa sent an overhead kick wide before an attempted clearance by the Oss keeper crashed against the striker only for the ball to bounce narrowly wide.

This was the third pre-season game for Oss – and it showed – while the hard week's training appeared to pull on the legs of the Derby players.

Jewell made six substitutions at the interval including the introductions of new signings Liam Dickinson, the centre-forward from Stockport County, and full-back Paul Connolly.

But Oss doubled their lead on 56 minutes. Moutawakil played in Thijssen, who looked offside but there was no flag and he squared for Karim Fachtali to tap in at the back post.

Derby had most of the ball in the second half without seriously troubling their hosts, who were not playing the game at their own stadium but at the home of FC Prinses Irene, a small ground in Nistelrode, a village five miles from Oss.

Teale saw a cross clawed away by de Bruin and then Dickinson was brought down from behind as he broke clear.

It looked close to being a penalty and many in a healthy sprinkling of Derby fans in the crowd thought it should have been.

Stewart struck the free kick firm and low but de Bruin blocked.

Derby used rolling subs during the second half leaving the impressive Albrechtsen and Nyatanga as the only two players to complete 90 minutes.

Next stop is the Pirelli Stadium on Wednesday and a game against Burton Albion.

TOP OSS: De Bruin; Kazlauskas, Jacobs, Hintum, Schoofs, Van der Ven (Fachtali, 46), Moutawakil (Geurts, 70), Thijssen (Almeida, 57), Landers, van der Sande, Harlaux. Other subs: De Vogt, van Engelen, Kraan, Sita.

DERBY COUNTY: Carroll (Bywater, 46); Mears (Connolly, 46), Albrechtsen, Nyatanga, Stewart (McEveley, 46); Sterjovski (Teale, 46), Savage (Pearson, 46), Leacock (Savage, 77), Davies (Stewart, 65); Villa (Dickinson, 46), Ellington (Sterjovski, 61; Villa, 75).