Derby County play their final game before the international break at Ewood Park this weekend
John Eustace makes a first return to Ewood Park this weekend, nine months since he left a promotion challenge at Blackburn Rovers for a relegation battle with Derby County.
He did so against the backdrop of a distinctly unhappy statement from the Ewood Park outfit who said they were ‘disappointed by his decision to leave at this crucial stage of the season.’
They did, though, thank him for his work and acknowledge the pull of moving closer to his family and returning to a former club.
In the end, Rovers didn’t reach the top six, finishing two points shy in seventh, while Derby evaded the drop in almost miraculous fashion.
After losing his first three games and with some questioning his wisdom, Eustace not only secured his first win as Derby head coach against Blackburn in March, but lifted the Rams off the canvas with six wins in their final 11 games.
Having ‘disappointed’ them in the spring, Eustace wouldn’t have endeared himself to the Rovers top brass much in the summer either as he lured Andi Weimann, Danny Batth and after something of a transfer saga, Lewis Travis from Ewood to Pride Park.
Owen Beck and Dion Sanderson, who were also loaned to Blackburn last season, are spending this season with the Rams, as is Ben Brereton-Diaz, who for four years was Rovers’ crown jewel. For Rovers fans it’ll be a spectral reunion.
Eustace certainly won’t talk up the personal narrative in this weekend’s game, it’ll be about the squad and making sure the team is competitive. Privately, he might enjoy another victory just a little more than some others.
We are unlikely to get too many soundbites out of Travis, who spent nearly nine years with the club, either. The midfielder is likely to still be out with a calf injury.
However, that doesn’t mean several players who start for the visitors won’t be fully motivated to do well against their former employers.
Then there’s the added fact this is the last game before the international break and another win would be Derby’s fifth in a row. No other Championship club has taken a maximum twelve points from their last four matches.
It’s safe to say that whatever happens, Derby go into the final international hiatus of this year in far better shape than they emerged from the last one.
Eustace’s side returned in October to lose meekly 1-0 at Oxford United. Since then, Norwich, QPR, Sheffield United and Hull have all been beaten and zero home wins have become three.
Depending on results elsewhere, another at the weekend could put Derby top of the form table for the last six matches and while no cups are handed out for that – it would put Derby seven points clear of Rovers.
It would also go some way to vindicating a decision that earlier this year, to many seemed an avoidable gamble.
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