Derby County head coach Steve McClaren thanked his players after they delivered a compelling display to destroy Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-0 in the rain on Saturday at the iPro Stadium.
Wolves had no answer to Derby’s energy and invention as Jeff Hendrick and Johnny Russell both scored twice after Ryan Shotton had put the home side on course for their biggest win since March.
“I’ve said to the team: ‘Thank you very much for giving me that performance because that was great’,” McClaren said. “I don’t often sit there and enjoy the full aspects of games but today I did.
“The team worked so hard even at 5-0 up and the key thing was the discipline they showed and looking a good team without the ball. It was a game we controlled by being a good team without the ball and that’s what really pleased me.
“To do that to a very good team shows what this group is capable of doing. That was a complete performance and today was one of those when I’m glad 30,000 people and the TV cameras were here to watch it.
“The players were magnificent and it was not just a performance of football but of hard work, attitude and discipline.”
Derby cruised to the top of the Championship with the lunchtime demolition, gaining a point on-form pair Middlesbrough and AFC Bournemouth, who missed the chance to make Derby’s stay at the top a short one as they played out a 0-0 draw later in the day.
Adam Reach came closest to stealing the points for the home side only to rattle the crossbar.
Mick McCarthy paid tribute to his side after Ipswich Town went fourth with a hard-earned 1-0 victory over Watford, now fifth, saw his side move to within two points of the top of the Championship table.
Tommy Smith’s 83rd minute goal was the difference between two evenly-matched sides with McCarthy believing the game was a great advert for the division.
The manager said: “I’m really pleased with the performance and the win. Watford are a good side and we had to play exceptionally well.
“I don’t know how it was just 1-0 with both goalkeepers and both defences playing very well.
“I said to my boys at half-time that Watford are a very good Championship team who, like us, have a chance of going up there.”
There was late drama at the City Ground where two goals in the last five minutes from strike pair Britt Assombalonga and Michail Antonio helped Nottingham Forest end their torrid run of form.
Forest had looked destined for a 10th league game without a win when Norwich City took the lead through Jonny Howson, only for Stuart Pearce’s men to secure a much-needed win.
Millwall defender Danny Shittu scored at either end as Brentford continued their play-off push with a 3-2 victory.
Ian Holloway’s men had fought back after Andre Gray’s double to score twice in two minutes through Shittu and Alan Dunne only for the centre-back’s unfortunate own goal to hand Brentford the points.
The only other away victory of the afternoon came at Reading where Igor Vetokele’s header ended Charlton Athletic’s run of three league games without a win.
A stunning goal from Ross McCormack helped Fulham see off Huddersfield Town 3-1 at Craven Cottage. The Scot added the third after Hugo Rodallega and Lasse Vigen Christensen had netted either side of Joel Lynch’s strike.
Neil Redfearn tasted victory for the first time as Leeds United’s permanent manager by the same scoreline as they piled more misery on rock-bottom Blackpool.
Liam Cooper, Souleymane Doukara and Mirco Antenucci secured the points before half-time with Nile Ranger grabbing a consolation.
Rudy Gestede’s 10th goal of the season cancelled out Gary Gardner’s opener as Blackburn Rovers earned an away point at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United played out a 0-0 draw as did Birmingham City, who had Wes Thomas sent off, and Cardiff City, who remain without an away win this season.
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Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Afro%20salons
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Inside%20Out%202
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What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Sam Smith
Where: du Arena, Abu Dhabi
When: Saturday November 24
Rating: 4/5