Birmingham scrape a win over dominating Derby

Birmingham City 1 Derby County 0

After a week of Cup matches against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, Derby had to change focus back to the more important task of improving their league performance with a trip to St Andrews to face promotion-chasing Birmingham.

Derby pretty much dominated the entire first half, seeing Kris Commons whacking one of his trademark strikes over the bar and Rob Hulse shooting straight at Blues’ keeper Maik Taylor.

It was in the second half when Derby let their guard down. Hameur Bouazza managed to break Derby’s defence, crossed the ball in from the right where Lee Carsley had the simple task of nodding in to give Birmingham the lead.

That didn’t stop Derby though – the sheer determination showed with plenty of strong efforts from the Rams such as when Hulse forced Taylor to tip over a late head and Carsley ensuring Miles Addison‘s attempt didn’t make the back of the net.

Despite the scoreline and entry into relegation, Derby showed good character tonight and Nigel Clough seemed happy enough with the effort they put in. Let’s just hope they can get a much needed win over Midlands’ rivals Coventry City on Saturday.