What Darren Moore made of Derby County bottle throwing shenanigans as Sheffield Wednesday shine through

It’s fair to say that while they ultimately came up short, Derby County threw everything at Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday afternoon.
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The Owls came through the test, registering yet another clean sheet on their record-breaking tally.

One man in particular who came through a test was goalscorer Michael Smith, who when preparing to take his match-winning first half penalty was delayed by Derby’s use of the ‘dark arts’ in trying to put him off.

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Former Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith had him re-spot the ball having complained to the referee, and two former Wednesday transfer targets also attempted to slow things down.

GOAL….Michael Smith penalty goal    Pic Steve EllisGOAL….Michael Smith penalty goal    Pic Steve Ellis
GOAL….Michael Smith penalty goal Pic Steve Ellis

Haydon Roberts ended up on loan at Pride Park instead of Hillsborough and was yellow carded for bizarrely throwing a water bottle into the penalty area, while Conor Hourihane took his time leaving the penalty area when instructed.

Speaking after the match Darren Moore was typically philosophical on their tactics.

“He was focused,” Moore said. “They did that because of the importance of the game. You could see the level and the importance of the game and any little thing you can do, you have to try to do that to win the game.

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“As you could see they did that and these are those small margins.”

One area in which he’d like to have seen his side double their lead by being more clinical in creating chances.

“They ended up going four up and leaving the back door open,” Moore continued. “I was hoping we could break away and get that last pass. A couple of times we did break away but we rushed it or the adrenaline got to us.”

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