Ipswich's quality adds to Rams' home woes

After the 5-0 thrashing of Bristol City on the road, Derby were looking to spark some life back into their home form at the weekend.

The Rams have only won four out of 16 matches at home so far this campaign, with just 40% of their current total points tally coming from results at Pride Park.

After a game that ebbed and flowed in momentum for both sides, Derby ultimately fell to defeat for a sixth time at home this season.

The main difference, for me, was Ipswich seeming to have just that little bit more in every sense. More quality on the ball, more energy, and better strength in depth on the day, proven by the quality of their substitutes bench.

Derby were limited to only having one shot on target throughout the whole 90 minutes, and that came from Rhian Brewster's penalty.

Despite carving out half-chances, and 'glimmer of hope' moments in the final third throughout the game, Derby never quite had that cutting edge to trouble Christian Walton in the Ipswich net, with the Rams only registering a pretty lacklustre 0.08 expected goals from open play all afternoon.

Despite the loss, and lack of clear-cut chances created, the performance that Derby produced was actually far from disappointing.

You felt as though the Rams were constantly having a go at Ipswich, and trying to get on the front foot as much as possible, which they have been guilty of not doing often enough at home this season.

When the likes of David Ozoh, Bobby Clark and Lewis Travis were on the ball in midfield areas, they were constantly looking for the killer pass forwards, or trying to take Ipswich defenders on to open up space for shots and opportunities.

Similarly, in wide areas, we saw Ben Brereton Diaz, Joe Ward and debutant Derry John Murkin trying to put dangerous balls into the box.

Although the execution was not always perfect, it made for a much more entertaining watch than sitting back for 90 minutes, and seeing much less of the ball than our opponents.

You could not fault the passion, desire and fight of every player in a Derby shirt, and as a fan I feel as though that is the main non-negotiable despite the calibre of opposition, or whether the result is going in our favour or not.

I would not be surprised to see Ipswich finish in the automatic promotion spots come May, and to say Derby have only been narrowly defeated 4-3 by them over two matches I think is pretty respectable, and encouraging, as a supporter.

Particularly when you also consider Ipswich's estimated wage bill to be just under double that of Derby's.

This Saturday's fixture against Swansea City, I feel, is much more of a "must-win" game, compared to the battle with Ipswich.

If the Rams seriously want to be considered as part of the play-off picture, they need to pick up a good run of home form pretty quickly, and what better way to start that than against a team who sit just 19th in the away form table.

It sounds bizarre to say it after losing a game, but if we replicate the level of performance that we put in against Ipswich, and are able to be more clinical in the final third, I believe we will have more than enough to overcome the Swans.

You can often catch Amelia Warren as a guest on BBC Radio Derby.