Times are challenging at Derby County right now.

Relegation from the Championship last season was hard to take, and despite a relatively strong squad heading into the new season, they’ve found life in the third tier tough going.

On Tuesday night, they played Lincoln City in their 5000th game. The Imps were fourth from the bottom without a home win, but they got the better of Liam Rosenior’s side, winning 2-0. A JAck Diamond penalty and Ben House’s second-half strike were enough to send the Rams home empty-handed, again.

That game saw Conor Hourihane deployed in midfield, but not to great effect. he was booked for a cynical pull back on Tashan Oakley-Boothe, and generally endured a rather challenging evening. Jason Knight’s evening was even worse; he gave away the penalty that saw Lincoln take the early lead, and he saw his own effort to level things stopped in strong fashion by Imps keeper Carl Rushworth.

However, neither has suffered a major ill-effect from the result, as both have been called up to represent Ireland ahead of the September fixtures. Stephen Kenny’s side is due to play Nations League fixtures against Scotland and Armenia on September 24th and 27th.

At present, they’ll miss Derby’s match at Pride Park against Cheltenham, although one more call-up would allow them to postpone the game. That’s certainly expected; Eiran Cashin should receive a call-up to Ireland’s Under 21 team, making him the trigger for a postponement.

The news of the duo’s senior call-up has met with mixed reaction on Twitter, with some supporters still clearly unhappy with the demoralising defeat at Sincil Bank.

https://twitter.com/LPOgden23/status/1570382178696978432

https://twitter.com/Mendezlaingszn/status/1570382263048896516

https://twitter.com/mattwall0/status/1570382781292634115

https://twitter.com/dcfclewisss/status/1570382960754413570

https://twitter.com/Bobsyred/status/1570386835817340928

https://twitter.com/MiguelKelly716/status/1570389321223475200

https://twitter.com/Chrisy_Webster/status/1570384723024691208

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