DERBY v HUDDERSFIELD – Pick: 1 – 12 April 2014

Rams to shut door on Terriers at Pride Park

Championship Tips

Football – England – Championship

Saturday 12th April 2014 – Kickoff:  1507hrs

Third placed Derby County will be wanting to secure all three points this afternoon in order to be at the front of the ‘queue’ when the play-off fixtures are decided when they take on out-of-sorts Huddersfield Town at their iPro Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

With just 5 matches remaining of the regular season, Derby are two points ahead of QPR and they’ll be keen to get the first leg home fixture against the sixth placed side which is still yet to be decided (currently occupied by Reading). Derby’s recent form has been sporadic, that is to say, they’ve been winning their home matches but have won just once from their last five away from home.

But it’s Derby’s home form that is important for this pick, and The Rams have lost just once in their last eight matches (a defeat to Millwall), but have racked up wins over Brighton 1-0, QPR 1-0, Bournemouth 1-0, arch-rivals Nottingham Forest 5-0 (which cost Forest manager Billy Davies’s job) and Charlton Athletic 3-0.

Plenty of goals has been the key in an overall home record of  11-4-5  37/21 which hasn’t always been the case in previous campaigns, but in addition they’ve kept seven clean sheets (including 5 from their last 6 at home) as a result of Steve McClaren’s work with the back four.

Visitors Huddersfield Town received a dressing down from manager Mark Robins following their “abject display” on Tuesday night when they lost 0-2 at home to Ipswich Town, a result which has now placed them in unwanted territory of relegation fears being just seven points ahead of Millwall who have recorded back-to-back wins over Nottingham Forest and Wigan recently.

The Terriers have now not won a Championship match in their last eight, picking up just three points in the process thanks to draws against Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough and Reading whilst suffering defeats to Doncaster Rovers, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers and Ipswich Town.

Huddersfield’s form on the road hasn’t been much better as they’ve recorded just one win from their last eleven trips which was a 2-1 win at fellow strugglers Birmingham City, but with an overall away record of  4-5-11  17/28 going into today’s match, I fancy it could be a long afternoon for the west Yorkshire outfit.

As mentioned earlier, Derby’s home form has been strong for most of the season and they should have too many goals in their locker for Huddersfield to deal with – could be a 2-1 win for Derby.

Pick:  Derby County straight win @ 1.73 Coral