A spirited display from the Rams should at least have earned them a replay but despite a great strike from Jay McEveley, it was not enough as a dogged Blues outfit clawed back to snatch a late victory.

Attendance: 21,043

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Goals: McEveley (Derby) 55’ - Dann (Brum) 73’ - Ridgewell (Brum) 90’.

Teams:

Rams: Bywater, Hunt, Buxton, Barker, McEveley, Tonge, Green, Savage, Pearson, Commons, Hulse.

Unused Subs: Deeney, Anderson, Moxey, Porter, Pringle, R Connolly, Vidal.

Brum:

Hart, Carr, Bowyer, Ridgewell, Larsson (Fahey 65), Jerome, Benitez (Phillips 65), Ferguson, Johnson, Dann, McFadden (Gardner 82).

Unused Subs: Taylor, Madera, Parnaby, Vignal.

Match Report courtesy of RamZone reporter I.Saw:

Undone.

Right at the end.

Derby’s FA Cup run became undone as Birmingham’s Ridgewell turned the ball over the line in injury time to take the Blues through to the 6th Round by a single goal margin.

Deserved?

Arguably not.

Over the ninety minutes, the Rams outplayed their rivals from the Premier League, enjoying a majority of possession and the larger attacking intent. Only those particularly partisan Bluenoses would have begrudged the Rams a draw and a replay at St Andrews.

The first 45 minutes started scrappy as two teams tried to impose their will on each other, continually robbing each other of possession cheaply.

As the the half wore on it finally produced some entertaining open and flowing football as the Rams in particular were coming to life.

A Commons long probing run showcased perfect dribbling and advanced nut-megging, signalling that the acendency was well and truly with Derby.

The Brum were hanging on for dear life come the end of the half and would have been wondering how long they could keep out their league mates from last season when play resumed.

HT: 0 - 0

Lee McEveley™ (courtesy of TV), is rapidly earning the middle name "Shoot" such is his imagined prowess in front of goal.

Lee... or Jay to those who can read, added to his tally with a long range effort that bounced in front of Hart who had gone to ground too quickly. The ball bounces high over the prone keeper and into the net to give the Rams the lead just before the hour mark.

Lee's fellow defenders Barker, Buxton and Hunt were coping well with Jerome and Co and up to the point of Dann’s downward header looked set to add another clean sheet to the locker.

That spotless sheet headed for the race and took an early bath after centre half Dann headed a wickedly curling McFadden corner into the ground in front of goal, the resulting bounce deflecting off a Derby defender, onto the line and in to the net.

As the game was slowing and players became tired it seemed a draw and replay was on the cards. But theBlues had different ideas as they went up a notch and started to win what was becoming an arm wrestle. Fresh Brum bench players added a spark that the Rams were struggling to re-ignite.

That we lost owed a little to a comedy of basic schoolboy errors.

A soft unnecessary free kick conceded just outside the penalty area, a wall that jumps and a scuffed free kick (and perhaps I am doing a grave injustice here to the Blue Shirt that took the kick) which barely leaves the ground.

The ball finds Kevin Phillips.

Phillips (unmarked, a nightmare), ten yards out (the nightmare is getting worse), swivels and directs the ball towards goal.

Bywater beaten.

The inside of the post gives hope as the ball runs along the goal line only for defender Ridgewell to poke it home.

And it’s all over.

Three minutes of the five left.

Nobody has told Savage though.

The Welsh midfielder barracked for greed by the travelling Brummies, unleashes a shot from thirty odd yards... it swirls, it dips and it deserved a goal if ever a shot did.

Joe Hart in goal leaps and produces a wonder save to tip the ball over for a corner. In one moment the keeper is a redeemer for his earlier error and a saviour for the Birmingham Cup dream.

The shortest five minutes ever known is complete.

A whistle, a point to the spot and the Blues with their fantastic following of over 5,000 celebrate.

FT: 1 - 2

Around the ground, the rest of the largest 21,043 ever seen at Pride Park applaud a terrific team performance in the knowledge that with a little run of the ball it could have been the home sides’ day.

It was a true team performance by the Rams, none worked harder than Kris Commons who ran at the Blues defence and caused all sorts of problems, sometimes lacking in composure, the enthusiasm shown by Kris and the application in tracking back and tackling was a joy to watch.

He wasn’t the only one Hulse fought all day with little return from the referee who had a definite blue tinge to spectacles he should have been wearing, especially when Barker was pulled back by his shirt in the area during the second half, a clear penalty denied.

In midfield Savage had one of his best games and Pearson was a thorn on the left wing combining well with the overlapping McEveley.

Green is still a way from form, the former Doncaster player of the year continues with another error strung match, giving the ball away countless times, which you presume Clough must feel he needs to play out of. Green aside, Tonge was restricted to the right hand side putting in a competent performance.

With both sides forgoing width and condensing the play into a central block, it helped the Rams midfield gain the upper hand over Bowyer and Ferguson. It was a joy to watch Commons dismiss both for pace in front of the dugout in the first half.

Birmingham though stuck to their task and with the addition of Phillips the game turned like it did the previous week against Wolves.

In the end the visitors took their chances and are through to the next round against the near extinct Pompey.

Best of luck lads.

Man Of The Match:

Robbie Savage - Another in your face, inspirational performance from the Rams captain.

Commons and Barker were sensational but Sav was tireless and involved in everything on the day.

Close but Robbie by a nose! :0)

Words From The Manager:

Nigel Clough speaking to the Official Site after the match:

"We must not let the disappointment linger into Tuesday and Swansea, if anything the disappointment is an incentive to get our rewards,"

"We can take a lot of heart from the performance, which is our fifth or sixth in a row now of a really good standard. As a team we are looking solid, hard to break down and hard to beat”.

"That is exactly what we want for the rest of the season, starting again against Preston on Tuesday. We feel hard done by to be honest; we felt we deserved a replay out of it at least”.

"At 1-0 up we looked fairly comfortable; we certainly weren't sitting back. A couple of set plays were our undoing in the end and when you look at them there was an element of bad luck about them both”.

"We will take performances like that every single week in the remaining sixteen matches, no question about it”.

"It was a good goal from Jay; we told the lads it might be an 'ugly' goal to do it for us. We encouraged the lads to get shots in from distance because you never know what might happen”.

"It looked as if Jay was going to be the hero but it wasn't our day which was summed up when Joe Hart turned Robbie Savage's shot over late on."

Positives to take from Saturday:

1. Another brilliant display by the Rams against quality opposition.

2.Forest lost again in the league.

Feeling better now ?

Photo: Action Images

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