Somebody has to tell him about his haircut so it might as well be me.

Come on tufty, it's time it went. Get down the barbers and get that walnut whip sliced off your forehead. You (or at least your wife) should know it makes sense.

So with Town safely tucked back in the Championship again for next season, this is one final chance to take some points of a Middle England team, take a few quid out of my wallet and put a breakfast in an 'uddersfield junior school kids belly. The second last home game of the season and the second last chance to send the whinging gits in our stands home with a smile on their faces.  

 . 

T'Derby fans have been moaning at their lot in many recent games. This match could turn into a reet moan fest.  

Let's hope it's more of a goal fest. 

Where the 'ecky thump did that season go to again so quickly? All signed up again for next season are we? Good on those that are  and for those that aren't, why not? Fancy going shopping on Saturday afternoons next season do you? Gerronwi'it.    It's cheaper on the never-never now than turning up for two home matches a month and paying on the gate.

My season ticket renewal pack finally turned up on Monday morning. Ripped wide open for all at the Post Office to read all my details. Thanks Town and especially the Post Office who likely delivered it elsewhere first for someone else to read too.   for a combined wonderful service. Good job I sorted it all out on-line last month. Wonder who's going to be using my ID? I'll probably find out next season when some hairy arsed trucker is sat in my seat. 

Can head shepherd Powell send his Terriers out wide down the wings to get round the back of the flock and lift some pin point crosses into the middle for Wells and Vaughan or Miller to drive home some goals against the Rams? Or is The Wally with the Brolly (he'll never, ever live that one down)

  

going to have a game plan that means Powell's not going to be able to separate the tups from the ewes and they'll have us yapping away penned in our own half being sheared and shorn at every twist and turn all afternoon?

Commentary on Radio Leeds on Saturday from Oggy & Keiron with insight on herding techniques from beyond the grave, courtesy of Phil Drabble's ghost. One of the few chaps from The Black Country with an accent that didn't tie me eyeballs in a knot.

Or 'appen that chap from the Lake District that's been twittering on the news earlier in the week can tweet some advice in?

A funny old last third of the season for both sides. A few weeks ago Town were winning every other game and heading for certain mid-table obscurity, maybe even squeaking into the top-half, and Derby were top of the league and looking certs for automatic promotion. Then both teams went on a run of 7 games without a win at exactly the same time. This almost dropped Derby out of the play-off spots and dropped Town nearer to the relegation trap doors than we would have liked to be.

Since then Town have beaten Ipswich and Forest and drawn 0-0 against Brighton putting us level on points with the Dirties, while Derby, after winning at Wigan (no prizes for that one boys, we've all done that) drawing against Brentford and winning 4-0 at home to Blackpool, after arguably the easiest end of season run-in of all the top sides, should breeze into the play-off's, but have they maybe left it just too late for one of the auto spots? If they aren't careful they could blow the play-off's too but with a game at Millwall and a home match against Reading still to come after they play us, they really shouldn't blow this one.

Despite losing 3-2 in the fixture at Pride Park, though our second goal came with almost the last kick of the game, Town gave a good account of themselves at Derby earlier in the season in my opinion. I thought Derby were the best team I'd seen us play against up to that point. I've certainly seen a lot worse since. Yes Bornmuff pummelled us in the first match of the season but we didn't turn up for that one.

I know, I know, Pride Park is now called The iPro Stadium.   

iPro is a Sports drink apparently . I'd no idea what it was until I looked it up.

Since then we have sent Grant Holt back to Wigan, we broke him, and Jack Robinson back to QPR, we broke him too, and cleared out a slack handful of others we decided we no longer needed. We've brought in Ishmael Miller from Blackpool on a short term contract, who hasn't had quite the same galvanising effect on the side as Grolt but Vaughan has been back sort of fit and Miller has scored one more goal than Grolt. We also got the Canuck international defensive midfielder Edgar from Brum and Reece Jones from Man Utd at fullback both on loan. Seems Powell would like young Mr. Jones back again next season or have I misread that one?

Derby meanwhile further strengthened their side with loan signings of a relatively unknown threesome  going by the names of Tom Ince, Jesse Lingard  and Darrren Bent. They also signed on full time Stephen Warnock from the Dirties   and Ryan Shotton from Stoke to name but a few. How the other half of this division live eh? With Will Hughes, Johnny Russell and Chris Martin (probably taking another day off from sorting out his divorce from Gwyneth and still not touring with Coldplay yet eh Shep?) in the squad they should be more than a handful for any side to play against in this division. The Secret Footballer says they've got a thin squad and most of their recent poor form was due to him not being available. Pah! We wish ours was that thin.

The Wally with the Brolly should look on the season as a failure if they don't at least make the play-off final after the brass he's had to spend compared to the loose change we've been able to give Powell. Given all that I'd take an entertaining draw today to extend our unbeaten end of season run.

So we are now both 4 games unbeaten.

Town have a better record when we play them at home, but a lot of that goes back a long way.

Vaughan missed the match at Brighton with a knee injury. He might be back sometime this year with his injury record.

Looks like he'll go for a largely unchanged side, maybe with a few of the U21's on the bench. Hairy Bum is reported to be fit and raring to go.

Chris Martin was apparently busy signing some divorce papers with Gwyneth and missed Derby's match against Blackpool.

If anything else of interest happens before kick-off that's worth reporting I'll edit this bit .... maybe.

Played for both/linked.

Not too much traffic between the two clubs that I can find or recall. 

A few that I can are below, (there may be a few more going back beyond these):

(between him and Steve Claridge they more or less played everywhere man, but I think Derby was more or less as far south as he went)

Peter Docherty 

(Northern Ireland International, a long, long time ago but his shorts are back in fashion and he doesn't appear to have a right leg to stand on in this pic) 

Frank Stapleton 

(Quickly went on from Town to be player manager at Sadfud for a few seasons. 'Nuff said.)

Voted Town's worst player ever apparently (signed from Derby by the managerial genious (?) that was Malcolm Macdonald, say no more). 

This link to a DATM thread http://downatthemac.proboards.com/thread/59798 has the only picture I've found that of him that I could post a link to. 

now physio for Charlton Ladies  

Shep did the Darryl Powell link in his Derby away match thread, job covered. 

(Which I've surely read on a thread somewhere else before?) 

Did you know? - 'In 1759, Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment (http://www.knittingtogether.org.uk/doc909e.html?doc=14010) that revolutionised the manufacture of 'ose. This attachment was used on the Rev. Lee's Framework Knitting Machine; it was placed in front of – and worked in unison with – Lee's Frame, to produce ribbed 'ose (for stockings).' (ref's: Wicki and links posted above).

So the socks (or at least the tops of them) that today's teams, ref's, lino's et al are wearing and those socks, tights or stockings that some of you are maybe wearing (whatever your preference boys and girls, it's not for me to judge ) can be traced back to an invention from Derby. A bit later on they got involved in building cars, trains and aeroplane engines but that's for another day me ducks.

I'll be up for this and next weekend's home games, not sure about Blackpool yet. Choo choo's aren't running properly again over the Bank Holiday weekend up the West Coast Line and they want silly money to sit on a bus for hours on end on the M6.

Time to blow the dust off me golf bats again now we've some daylight to play with come late afternoons. I need something to keep me out o'the pub for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon over the Summer.   

With only the England U21's to cheer on/embarrass us over the closed season let's hope the weather's good. 

Our lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink.
Thy will be drunk, (I will be drunk), 
At home as it is in the pub.
Give us this day our foamy head, 
And forgive us our spillages, 
As we forgive those who spill against us.
And lead us not to incarceration, 
But deliver us from hangovers.
For thine is The beer, The bitter, The lager.
Forever and ever,
Barmen.

Capital Brewery, Middleton, WI
People who drink light beer don’t like the taste of beer; they just like to pee a lot.

The match is being beamed all over Europe on live TV (and likely all over the world on t'interweb too as a result) so let's hope it's a good one and we win over some new friends and fans in far off foreign places. 

Match going fairly global on TV or Paid Streaming depending on where you live

Link to coverage in your part of the world for our international readers