Derby 0-2 QPR: Tough debut for babysitter Nigel Clough

Nigel Clough was so popular at Burton Albion some of his players used to babysit for him so he could go out for a meal on a Friday night.

He is the one having to clean up the mess at Derby County right now and the sooner his players get out of nappies the better chance he will have of steering them away from a relegation scrap.

Clough agonised for weeks over whether to leave the Blue Square Premiership and take the plunge into league management.

He could be forgiven for having second thoughts after his Pride Park debut turned into the kind of nightmare that would put kids off going to bed for months. What was supposed to be a celebration of the second coming of Clough at County turned into a shambles as his strugglers failed to muster the basics their new boss took for granted up the road at Burton.

Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

Clough should have had an inkling of the troubles ahead when a cherished picture of him as a six-year-old sat on his dad's desk at the Baseball Ground was smashed the day before.

Add to that the unveiling before kick-off of a bust of legendary Rams striker Steve Bloomer, mounted on bricks from the old stadium where Brian Clough ruled for six years, and someone was heading for a fall.

The bronze of Bloomer would have turned his back on this if he could and Clough knows he has work to do to answer QPR fans who chanted "you'll never be your dad" and plenty of others around the country muttering the same.

"I hope we can't be any worse than that and that's the only positive we can think of," he said. "You can look round the dressing room and there isn't really anybody who can hold their hand up and say I performed well today.

"People are doing everything but their jobs. That's something they have to concentrate on.

"They didn't even do the things the players did every week at Burton. It's a case of stripping back to basics.

"Take the first goal, we have possession, Luke Varney gives the ball away, Martin Albrechtsen comes across and doesn't clear it. Two basic things contributed to the goal we conceded. There was no clearer example of it than that."

Just 24 hours after Clough showed his ruthless side by insisting he will clear out up to a dozen players, Mo Camara may as well have volunteered for the exit door with his failure to cope with QPR's Wayne Routledge (circled).

The winger accepted Albrechtsen's error for Rangers' first, with Camara nowhere to be seen and then embarrassed the Derby left-back to enable Mikele Leigertwood to complete the party-pooping.

Things look so bright for Rangers that co-owner Flavio Briatore wore sunglasses in dimly-lit corridors on the way to the dressing room as he went to congratulate his men. The future will not have such a sunny feel for Clough right now as he tries to raise his troops for the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final at Old Trafford tomorrow.

Derby : Carroll 6, Albrechtsen 6, Todd 6, Nyatanga 5, Camara 4, Barnes 5 (Barazite 70, 6), Addison 6, Green 6, Commons 5, Hulse 5, Varney 5 (Davies 59, 6).

QPR : Cerny 6, Connolly 6, Stewart 7, Gorkss 6, Delaney 6; Rowlands 4 (Ephraim 12, 6), Mahon 7, Leigertwood 7, Routledge 8, Helguson 6 (Di Carmine 64, 6) Cook 7 (Albertini 89). Goals: Routledge 22, Leigertwood 36. REFEREE: Kevin Wright ATTENDANCE: 28,390

MAN OF THE MATCH Wayne Routledge (QPR) 8 A continuos menace with his power and speed down the right

VILLAIN OF THE MATCH Mo Camara (Derby) 4 Struggled all afternoon to cope with the pace of Routledge

ANORAK Derby have won just one of their last five home matches in the Championship

NEXT THREE GAMES

DERBY
Tomorrow: Man Utd (a) Carling Cup
Friday: N Forest (h) FA Cup
Tue Jan 27: Birm'ham (a) Champ

QPR
Tue Jan 27: Blackpool (a) Champ
Sat Jan 31: Reading (h) Champ
Tue Feb 3: Swansea (h) Champ

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