*Vassell’s pace catches Derby in a spin*

Glenn Hoddle’s return to management may have to wait a while longer. John Gregory once again woke up to reports yesterday that the former England boss is being lined up to replace him but this second consecutive victory surely buys him more time.

With Doug Ellis’s finger allegedly on the trigger, it might have appeared a risky decision by Gregory to ignore his chairman’s wishes and not recall the errant Stan Collymore from his footballing Siberia to replace the injured Dion Dublin.

But Gregory refuses to take a gamble on Collymore, preferring instead to place his faith in Darius Vassell, a 19-year-old he describes as “wet behind the ears”. It was he who came off the bench in the 56th minute to swing the match in Villa’s favour by setting up both goals.

His appearance certainly livened up a game which until then had been as palatable as another turkey dinner. It was not until three minutes into the second half that the crowd were roused from their slumbers when Julian Joachim fired in a low shot which the Derby goalkeeper Mart Poom touched on to the post. The Estonian then had to beat out the follow-up from Alan Wright.

Derby introduced a substitute Malcolm Christie but it was Vassell whose speed dramatically changed the course of the match. He had been on for 12 minutes when he out-paced the home defence and set up the over-lapping George Boateng to drive in his first Premiership goal for Villa.

The substitute was not content there, cruising effortlessly past the floundering Spencer Prior 10 minutes later to cross for Ian Taylor. The midfielder headed past Poom for his third goal in three matches.

But, if Vassell was expecting to be treated like a conquering hero by his under-pressure manager, he was in for a shock. “We know he’s got a lot of ability but it’s whether he can produce it consistently,” said Gregory. “He switched off in the last 10 minutes when we should have gone on and scored a couple more.”

As for Derby, they really do make the perfect Christmas hosts, doling out the footballing equivalent of a nice drink and a mince pie to almost anyone who visits them. They have now lost 10 of their 13 matches in all competitions here this season and no side in the Premiership has scored fewer at home nor conceded so many.

Boos and catcalls echoed round the ground at the final whistle. At the turn of the 20th century, the match programme noted yesterday, Derby were similarly struggling to score goals before the legendary Steve Bloomer came along to rescue him.

As County stand on the edge of the next century they must desperately hope that history repeats itself.