A clash with a race meeting meant that March 19 1892 went down in history as the day Derby County graced the Baseball Ground for the first time.

They lost that game 1-0 to Sunderland and would eventually move to the BBG for the start of the 1895/96 season with race meeting clashes becoming more frequent.

The 1890s was the decade that saw football's first superstar come to prominence.

Steve Bloomer made his Derby debut, at the age of 18, on the opening day of 1892/93, and at the end of September he scored from the penalty spot in a draw with West Bromwich Albion.

It was the first of 332 goals over a long and distinguished Rams career for the front-man, a tally that still stands today as the club's all-time highest.

Bloomer was the leading scorer in 1893/94, the first of 13 consecutive seasons he led the chart.

The Rams narrowly avoided relegation to the newly-formed Division Two in 1894/95 by beating Notts County in a Test match - these were the early equivalent to play-offs, though the format differed slightly to today's in that the bottom three from the First Division would take on the top three from the second tier.

If you won, you were up, and if you lost you were down.

1895/96 was the most successful season so far of Derby's fledgling life.

They finished second for the first time, four points behind Aston Villa, and also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup where they lost 2-1 to Wolves.

Third spot and another semi-final defeat followed the next year, before in 1898 came the first of two successive FA Cup finals.

Bloomer was on target in the Crystal Palace clash, but Derby went down 3-1 to Nottingham Forest.

Twelve months later they were back at the Palace again but were beaten again, this time 4-1 by Sheffield United.