The Derbyshire Derby

The date for the Derbyshire Derby is set and the friendly rivalry will reach fever pitch for the in fourth round of this seasons FA Cup. 

The last time Derby played against Chesterfield in a competitive match was the 22nd of September 1986, Paul Cook's 19th birthday. Cook was a young midfielder just finding his way in the game at Wigan, while his counterpart Steve McClaren was a 25 year old who had just signed as a Derby player.

Chesterfield and Derby have only ever played a handful of competitive league games. The Derbyshire pair have never really crossed paths. This is one of the reasons of the friendly rivalry between the two.

Neither Chesterfield or Derby find their major rivals inside glorious Derbyshire, to find them you have to look into Nottinghamshire for Mansfield and Nottingham Forest. Outside of arch rivals Mansfield you have to look north for Chesterfield's other rivals such as Rotherham, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday even Barnsley, Scunthorpe and Leeds. All of these teams are more disliked than our Derbyshire neighbour.  For Derby they have the same thing after Nottingham Forest they look south to the likes of Leicester City.   

The two teams have played eachother 10 times in the league with the Spireites winning 2 games, the Rams winning 4 times and the remaining 4 games being draws.

The last time the Rams played the Spireites in the FA Cup was in 1948. Interestingly that day Chesterfield also had a scouser playing outside left number 11, by the name of Roberts! Harold Roberts - Unfortunately for the Spireites, Roberts could not inspire them to victory that day. 






Both sets of fans will be looking forward a good game of football played the right way. Both Derby and Chesterfield have had good recent success building success on a young team, with great team spirit, playing attractive football. The respect between the teams is very high with neither begrudging the credit their neighbour is currently getting.

Pride is not the only thing inspiring the Spireites, with a potential huge tie in the fifth round at stake, not to mention the financial reward. The Spireites have already earned 112k from prize money from this seasons FA Cup and that doesn't take into account the gate earnings on top. A win against Derby could see them double that figure with 90k on offer for the fourth round winners.

Confidence is high at the Derbyshire clubs and it should make for a very open attractive game. Chesterfield can take up to 5,700 fans, with the iPro holding 33,500 it should prove to be a game to remember!

Thanks to @DaleShaw85 for the 1948 FA Cup information