Rams top up fitness but cutting edge so much ADO about nothing

PAUL Green, Miles Addison and Dean Leacock topped up their match fitness after injury and illness in Derby County's 1-0 defeat by ADO Den Haag in last night's friendly in Holland.

On a chilly evening in The Hague, the Rams played some neat football at times in a competitive game but lacked a cutting edge.

Home goalkeeper Boy Waterman was not seriously stretched apart from having to come and take corners and free kicks.

At the other end, Stephen Bywater made two or three good saves.

All in all, it was a worthwhile exercise as the Rams made the most of the two-week international break before Championship action resumes for them at Swansea a week tonight.

Addison and Green, fit again after the foot problems, started.

Both returned to action in last Friday's victory over Coventry City and continue to ease their way back.

Addison partnered Dean Leacock at the heart of the defence and Green was in a midfield five leaving Paul Dickov as the lone striker.

Lee Croft, in need of a game after starting only one of the last four matches, was on the right and Stephen Pearson, impressive against Coventry, on the left.

Skipper Robbie Savage was among the substitutes as were Shaun Barker and youngsters Arnaud Mendy and Greg Mills.

Den Haag made four changes to the team beaten 5-1 at home by PSV Eindhoven at the weekend.

The defeat left them fourth from bottom of the Eredivisie, the Dutch Premier League, and they are without a league win in seven.

Their home, the 15,000-capacity all-seated Den Haag Stadion was opened in 2007 and is an impressive, venue.

Derby twice played at Den Haag's old ground, the Zuiderpark Stadion, in 2000 and back in the early 70s.

There was a small band of Rams fans at last night's game and a five or six flags were draped on a barrier behind one goal.

They watched as Den Haag, in their yellow and green strip, start by keeping possession, as you would expect of a Dutch team, but the only threat posed to Bywater in the opening 20 minutes came from wide player Wesley Verhoek.

He cut in from the right and his left-foot drive was pushed away by Bywater.

The downside of playing one up front is that he can become isolated and Jake Livermore looked to support Dickov when he could.

But Derby did not force Waterman into a save of note in the first half.

Addison moved forward in an attempt to get on the end of a free kick from Bryan Hughes but Waterman came to collect and Dean Moxey hammered the ball into the wall after a free kick had been played short to him.

Big defender Csaba Horvath was spoken to after a late challenge on Dickov and when Den Haag pressed, Leacock did well to block a shot from Yuri Cornelisse.

Bywater then produced a fine save to keep out Horvath's firm header from a Verhoek corner.

The referee missed one or two fouls by Den Haag, notably on Livermore and Pearson. Livermore was clearly not happy and kicked the ball away in frustration, for which he was spoken to by the referee.

Derby almost opened up Den Haag after 35 minutes and Green was heavily involved.

He swapped passes with Croft and Hughes before the ball reached Pearson. He found Dickov's feet and the Scot turned but could not keep his shot down.

Bywater dropped to his left to hold a shot from Cornelisse, the keeper's third save of the half, but the Rams improved as the first period unfolded and they went close to what would have been a fortunate opener six minutes before the break.

Dickov, from a tight angle, looked to centre and a deflection saw the ball strike the foot of a post and bounce behind for a corner.

The referee twice had to step in to sort out some pushing and shoving between Waterman and Dickov before the corner was delivered.

Although the pace of the game was not what Derby are used to, it was competitive.

Savage, who flew in on a later flight due to a passport mix-up, replaced Green for the second half.

The introduction of the experienced midfielder helped to improve the passing on what was a lovely playing surface but greater tempo was needed at times to break down the Den Haag defence.

When Hughes was brought down, Savage's curling free kick clipped the top of the wall and looped over before Livermore's pass was just too strong for Pearson's diagonal run.

There was still plenty of needle in the match and it emerged again around the hour mark.

Livermore and Dickov were at the centre of it and so was Horvath, as he had been for much of the game.

And it was Horvath who finally broke the referee's patience. His poor challenge on Livermore when he tried to win the ball when he had no chance of doing so saw him receive a yellow card.

Mills and Mendy came on for Dickov and Pearson but Den Haag took the lead after 73 minutes.

Karim Soltani whipped in a low cross and Cornelisse turned the ball high into the net at the back post, although there was a suspicion of offside.

Mills, 19, led Derby's attack for the final 25 minutes and it highlighted the shortage of fit strikers just now.

The goal lifted Den Haag and they would have doubled their lead had Bywater not made a smart save to stop a close-range header from Cornelisse.

Mills had a brief sight of goal when he capitalised on some indecision between Waterman and Horvath but the defender recovered to block as the youngster attempted to steer the ball in from out wide.