OPINION: '˜Time for Derby County to show consistency'

Craig Bryson departing Pride Park for Cardiff City was the one shock that had people talking for days. A fans’ favourite for the past six years starts a new challenge with Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds.

Bryson has arguably been our best player over the past few seasons and no-one will forget the 16 goals he bagged during our play-off final season. To this day I still can’t believe that Steve McClaren didn’t start him in the final.

There was a twist to the Maikel Keiftenbeld transfer. He signed the forms incorrectly and the deadline was missed by two minutes.

Friday night in front of the TV cameras the Rams pulled off their most impressive display in months when they thrashed Hull City by five goals to nothing.

Every single player played his part in the victory and it had Sky pundit David Prutton eating his words after he confidently predicted an away win for the Tigers.

Tom Lawrence started for the first time and was impressive throughout the game. It also saw Matej Vydra continue his recent good form with a brace of goals.

However, it was a brilliant performance by Bradley Johnson that stood out for me. Apart from his two goals, he put in his best showing in months and deservedly so won the man of the match award.

There was a blip on Tuesday night as we went out of the League cup 3-2 at Barnsley despite leading the game twice - Gary Rowett making eleven changes against a full strength Tykes side.

The gamble not paying off, but it did give George Thorne a return to first team football after being out for 14 months.

The game also saw youngsters Max Bird and Callum Guy have the chance to shine. Bird started a game for the first time and had a full debut to be proud of and Guy who’s recently returned from injury got his chance in the second half. Guy impressed in a loan spell at Port Vale last season.

This weekend we travel to Ashton Gate and face a determined looking Bristol City. We can’t underestimate sides like these and need to be on a guard right from the kick-off.

Hopefully we can bring something back with us and keep in touch with the top six. It is time that we showed some consistency!