Derby County and Nottingham Forest supporters will have very different memories of midfielder: View | OneFootball

Derby County have had a poor last few seasons in comparison to their neighbours Nottingham Forest.

Currently, the two teams that face off in the East Midlands Derby are two divisions apart from each other, with Forest participating in the Premier League, whilst Derby find themselves in League One.

Next season though, we could see the two reunite once again in the Championship. Derby are in an intense battle for the second automatic promotion spot in League One, whilst Forest are fighting relegation in the top flight.

But ten years ago things looked very different for both teams, with both competing in the Championship on a regular basis.

It could be argued that Derby were the better team a decade ago, but there was one game, and one player’s performance in particular, that epitomised this difference in quality between the two sides at the time.

That player was former Derby midfielder Craig Bryson, who scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Forest at Pride Park in March 2014.

Bryson’s hat-trick against Forest will go down as one of the best derbies from Derby’s perspective, whilst it is a day Forest fans have been trying to forget ever since.

It is a day that has lived long in the memory and will continue to do so, with Bryson becoming the first player to score a hat-trick in the fixture since Steve Bloomer, Derby’s record goalscorer, who scored his 116 years before.

The game got off to a great start for Derby. Bryson got his first of the match in six minutes when his shot deflected off Forest defender Danny Collins. Bryson would then get his second just after the half-hour mark when Chris Martin laid the ball off for him nicely, leading to Bryson applying the finishing touch.

Derby would go into half-time 3-0 up through Jeff Hendrick, and Johnny Russell would make it four ten minutes after the restart. Bryson would get his third and Derby’s fifth through a penalty when Patrick Bamford was brought down in the area.

That campaign would end for Bryson with 16 goals in 47 games in the Championship, including the play-offs. It would be the best season in his career when it came to goals. But it was a moment that Forest fans will not be too fond of whatsoever.

Bryson had a great Derby career regardless

Whilst Bryson will be remembered by the majority of Derby fans for his hat-trick, he still went on to have a long and successful career in Derbyshire.

He joined in July 2011 for a reported fee of £350,000, rising to £450,000 in add-ons.

In his first season, he won the fans’ Player of the Season award, along with the club’s and supporters club’s Player of the Year awards.

He impressed in his second season, and signed a new three-year deal. The 13/14 season was next, and along with the hat-trick against Forest, he would help them reach the Championship play-off final, where they lost in the last minute to Queens Park Rangers.

In the summer of 2014, after having talks with Burnley over a move, he instead signed a new five-year deal and cited the Derby fans as his reasoning for staying put, saying: "I've got a good bond with the fans as well and that was a big part in my decision to stay here.”

The Scot would make less of an impact in the next few seasons, as injuries started to take their toll. One of his injuries in 2015, a knee ligament issue, led to him at the time "finding some things difficult to do relating to shooting and long passing", according to then-manager Paul Clement.

Bryson would come back more in the 16/17 season, making 34 league appearances, but was then loaned out to Cardiff City in the 17/18 season.

After a mixed spell in Wales, he would come back and help Derby once again reach the play-off final under Frank Lampard in 2019, unfortunately losing to Aston Villa. That season would be his last, as he rejected a new contract to join Aberdeen.

Bryson gave his all when in a Derby shirt, and his contribution to the Rams over the 2010s can not be understated.

Derby fans will love him mainly because of the hat-trick, and Forest fans will hate him for the same reason, and both are probably justified.