Derby DFC travelled away to Wolverhampton for an all round Midlands derby cup game which left Derby's players in no doubt that it would be a battling game.
The Wolverhampton Wanderers team seemed to be up for the game with their team fielding three members of the 2005 Gold winning Great Britain Squad, Richard Parker, Derby old boy Christopher Beech and Steven Gardiner.
The game started off fairly reasonable with good exchange of football between the two teams.
The skilful pacy right winger Damien Wood poised a threat to the Derby team along with the aerial threat from Steve Gardiner and Chris Beech.
The movement from Steven Gardiner seemed to cause a few anxious moments for the Derby back four but Wolverhampton Wanderers did not manage to create any clear cut chances during the first 45 mins apart from a cross that sailed across the penalty but at the end, Derby managed to clear the ball out of the penalty box
Derby played fairly decent in the first half and was unlucky not to go 1-0 up with a Gary Gordon effort stunning pushed over the bar with a quick right handed stop by Richard Parker.
Derby also had a penalty shout denied by the referee who deemed it to be a no foul despite a challenge delivered from behind by the Wolves Wanderers defender.
In the second half, Derby lifted a gear and started to dominate the game with the back four being organised and kept any opportunities from Wolves to a minimum.
Richard Jeffers came off injured with Alistair Dalziel coming on for him in midfield.
Derby kept pushing through looking for the goal to change the game but couldn't find it as Wolves DFC stayed solid and could not break them down to create a scoreable chance.
New signing John Atkinson displayed several nice touches and combined well with the players to keep the team pushing for a goal along with Martyn Vessey, the captain of the team after seeing Richard Jeffers going off.
Derby was at times wary not to push up too much incase of a counterattack from Wolverhampton as a goal could have clinched victory for either teams.
Derby DFC finally broke down to grab the winner only for the linesman to chalk the goal off, after a discussion between the linesman and the referee, the referee signalled for a no goal, Wolverhampton breathed a sigh of relief as they started to tire during the latter stage of the second half.
The game went into extra time with Daniel Holdsworth coming off as the manager decided to throw fresh legs onto the pitch with Matthew Redgrift coming on.
A period of scrappy football started to creep into the game considering the tired legs on the pitch and Derby threw their final substitution with John Atkinson coming off for Martin Mallett.
It was obvious that the game was heading for the dreaded penalty shoot out as Derby DFC had a dubious record in penalty shoot out after never winning a penalty shoot out.
Derby went first in the penalty shoot out with Darrell Sykes putting the ball away without any problem.
Alistair Dalziel came second and once again, he managed to keep Derby ahead at 2-1.
With Wolves putting the pressure on Derby at 2-2, Matthew Redgrift restored Derby's lead by netting the ball calmly to make it 3-2.
Leigh Blake stepped up as Derby's fourth penalty taker and his determination to take a penalty paid off as the former GB keeper made no saves once again.
Sam Kitchin took Derby's fifth penalty and slotted the ball back into the net leaving the pressure onto Wolverhampton.
Sam Kitchin ensured that Derby finally broke their penalty shoot out jinx by saving from a Neil Wilkins penalty and a jubilant celebration from Derby ensured.
Toby Dawson, the manager said “I’m pleased to see us breaking our penalty shoot out jinx as it’s pretty much so overdue after seeing us being defeated in a penalty shoot out last season. I think the team did play very well in the second half even not scoring a goal as we could not break through Wolverhampton’s back four. I think Wolverhampton played well today giving us a hard game but we were the better side at the end of the day.
Credit to Sean Priestley for his battling effort during the game as he was about a few inches smaller to Wolves’s two main aerial threats but he managed to win most of the balls in the air and he did also passed the ball very tidily today.
I was also very pleased to see everyone turning up for the game with no England Futsal training weekend or any England futsal match being held and with no injuries and no-one going on holiday.
It certainly gave me a headache with the team selection as I am only able to pick eleven players who I think that will give us the best chance of winning the game and I was also pleased to be able to put on top quality substitutions during the game.
Players will be unhappy to not be selected, that is quite understandable, and it shows how far we have come as a team when we have to deal with new problems of seeing unhappy players not being picked in the first eleven
And now with our squad boosted by the signing of John Atkinson, it’s a honour to be involved with the team and I hope that all players will feel the same that it’s a privilege to be part of the squad at Derby and hope we can achieve something this season..
Finally, credit to Wolverhampton for giving us a good game as we are no longer the underdogs and teams will want to beat us and it’s something that we need to learn to deal with as we need to be stronger mentally”