Sun 01 Jul - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 4mins
It’s official! Earlier this Sunday we broke the news that Derby County had taken up the option to extend Curtis Davies’ contract by a further year.
The extension ties the 33-year-old to Pride Park Stadium until the end of the 2019/20 campaign – that following a superb first year as a Ram.
Week after week, the defender was colossus at the heart of the defence and here, dcfc.co.uk has attempted to pick out the five games we thought he was truly sublime in…
Under the cosh for a large chunk of the contest, Davies showed all of his experience to play a vital role in ensuring the Rams left Griffin Park with a point under their belts.
Prior to their trip to the West London, Derby had fallen to defeat in their past three away games – at Sheffield United, Barnsley (Carabao Cup) and Bristol City – and really needed to steady the ship on the road.
After taking the lead through Joe Ledley’s debut header, Brentford threw everything they had (quite literally) at Derby’s backline, bombarding Scott Carson’s penalty area with crosses and shots.
Who tended to be on the end of them? Davies was. He was truly terrific and whilst the Rams were forced to settle for a point in the end, this game proved the Rams had some steel about them and was a turning point for our fortune on the road.
A few days after that draw at Brentford, Davies and co were on the road again – this time to south Wales – to take on the Championship’s early pace setters, Cardiff City.
It represented a big early season test for a Rams side that had largely been inconsistent on their travels.
Like against Brentford, though, Davies was sensational and played an important role as the Bluebirds failed to score at home for the first time of the 2017/18 season – this was also only one of five matches at the Cardiff City Stadium as they went on to claim promotion to the Premier League.
Here at dcfc.co.uk, this was the third game in a row that we had named Davies as our Man of the Match as we began to really see his true capabilities and Rams fans began to take him to their hearts.
From the end of September, we jump right towards the end of the season now and an April to remember.
With questions being seriously asked of the Rams’ play-off credentials, Davies, now wearing the captain’s armband, stood tall and lead his side to a much-needed three points in Lancashire.
Tom Lawrence’s goal separated the two sides on a rain-soaked Easter Monday, but on a day when Preston dominated both the possession and shots statistics, Davies and his team-mates turned defending into an art form, producing one of their best defensive displays of the season to end an eight-game run without a win.
It was no surprise that Rams fans on social media were labelling this as the 33-year-old’s best in a Derby shirt afterwards.
En route to being nominated for the PFA Sky Bet Championship Player of the Month for April, Davies would back up his Preston showing with another outstanding display – this time against one of his former clubs.
The Rams headed to Villa Park buoyed by a morale-boosting 3-1 win over Cardiff City and capped a fine start off by taking the lead early doors, with Cameron Jerome scoring his third goal in two matches.
From there, Villa peppered Carson’s penalty area with cross after cross and shot after shot.
Showing resilience in abundance, Davies and co blocked, headed and got their bodies in front of everything that was thrown at them and looked to have done enough to clinch all three points, but for an unlucky deflection which allowed Lewis Grabban to score with just three minutes remaining.
Take nothing away from Davies’ performance, though, he was terrific. This would not prove to be his last eye-catching performance of the campaign.
Derby ultimately proved to be unsuccessful in their play-off bid, but we can all agree that first-leg against Fulham was a nail-biting, but tremendous occasion.
Jerome was on target again with a bullet header, but the way Davies managed and dealt with Aleksandar Mitrovic over the course of 90 pulsating minutes at Pride Park Stadium was sublime.
The towering Serbian striker, who had proven pivotal in Fulham’s rise over the second half of the season, was not given a kick as the Rams edged out 1-0 winners.
What are your favourite moments from Curtis Davies' first season at Pride Park Stadium? Join the conversation by heading to our official Twitter page: @dcfcofficial.
