ONE HARDLY had to be the unlikely progeny of Russell Grant to predict that Derby County's visit to Birmingham City would not be one for purists. That, at least, went to plan in one of the Premier League's more grisly encounters.
Less predictable would be that when Birmingham squirmed ahead with a moment of Sebastian Larsson guile, they would then gift Derby their third away point of the season with the help of Villa; Emanuel Villa, the £2m Argentine. If the increasingly restless home faithful are to believe the marriage between manager Alex McLeish and Birmingham had evolved from honeymoon to bickering, they need have looked no further than chairman David Gold's programme notes, which pronounced recent form "not acceptable" and declared this a "must-win" game.
"I haven't read it," McLeish claimed. "But the season wasn't decided today, so I don't agree with it. As far as I'm concerned, the season is decided in May." This morning, Birmingham lie in the relegation zone and, come May, yesterday may yet have proven to be a most ominous watershed. "There's no reason to panic," McLeish argued. "The result was a kick in the proverbials but the performance was good, the chances were many and there was a lot of plus points."
McLeish had berated his defence for Tuesday's defeat on Wearside and replaced two of them, giving a first start of the season to Martin Taylor and a debut for the newly signed David Murphy. Troublingly, Derby had three attacks: the first one saw Kenny Miller hit the post; the second Villa scored from and the third saw Maik Taylor produce a flying save from Giles Barnes.
After an incident-free first half, the home side upped the tempo as Fabrice Muamba and Larsson began to display their creativity. Taking advantage of Derby's disarray as Darren Moore hobbled off, Murphy slung over a cross from the left. Marc Edworthy and Larsson jumped together, the Swede reacting quickest to tuck the rebound home.
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That ought to have been that, but Birmingham's undisciplined defending allowed Barnes to find Dean Leacock on the right. The full-back's cross was met with a Villa header and Derby had their point. Manager Paul Jewell said: "We showed character in coming back but the pressure is off us now. I have got more points on my driving licence than we have in the Premier League."
Star man: Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham)
Player ratings: Birmingham: Maik Taylor 6, Ridgewell 5, Kelly 5, Martin Taylor 5, Murphy 5, Muamba 7, Larsson 7, Johnson 6, Kapo 4, McFadden 5, O'Connor 6.
Derby: Carroll 6, Leacock 6, Earnshaw 4, Miller 5, Stubbs 6, Moore 6, Roberts 4, Fagan 4, Edworthy 5, Ghaly 4, Savage 6.
Scorers: Birmingham: Larsson 7 Derby: Villa 89
Yellow cards: Birmingham: Larsson Derby: Leacock, Edworthy, Savage, Robert, Miller
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Referee: P Walton
Attendance: 25,924