Birmingham manager Alex McLeish was left ruing a late equaliser after seeing his side squander two points at Pride Park.

Blues cut the gap to leaders Wolves to just two points, but had to settle for a share of the spoils after dominating for long periods.

Steve Davies’ 87th-minute effort from close range was enough to rescue  the Rams a point, after Quincy Owusu-Abeyie had handed the visitors the lead with a stunning strike from the edge of the penalty area.

“When you surrender the lead at that stage of the game it feels like dropped points. But it’s a tough venue to come, and Derby have been getting some good results lately,” he said.

“They took some risks in the second half and they got their rewards. But I’m disappointed we didn’t show more composure, and on the counter-attack we could have been more decisive.

“It was a great goal from Quincy. We looked very, very dangerous in the first half – and I thought things were coming together better.”
McLeish knows where improvements need to be made.

“I still believe we can keep possession better and I think the forwards might benefit more if we can do that,” he said.

“It’s not all doom and gloom, but we like to beat ourselves up after a result like that and think of what might have been.”

The result was harsh on a Blues side who had dominated throughout without being spectacular, but will represent a huge upturn in fortunes for Paul Jewell after his side’s disappointing start to the campaign.

Mehdi Nafti, drafted into Birmingham’s starting XI in place of Sebastian Larsson just prior to kick-off, tested Roy Carroll with a rasping drive after only 55 seconds.

The upbeat tempo of the opening exchanges continued as the first half wore on with Blues coming close to breaking the deadlock after 16 minutes.

A neat back-heel from James McFadden found Stuart Parnaby down the right and he sent a teasing ball across the six-yard area that Rams defender Paul Connolly did well to turn behind for a corner.

But Blues only had to wait 10 minutes for Quincy to grab the crucial breakthrough in spectacular fashion.

The Ghanaian picked the ball up just inside the Derby half and played a neat one-two with McFadden before unleashing a great strike from the edge of the area that ricocheted off the crossbar and into the top corner, leaving Carroll with no chance.

Blues continued to dominate in the second half with Lee Carsley and the battling Nafti taking charge in the middle of  the park.

McFadden blazed the first real chance of the second half over the bar from the edge of the penalty area when he really should have at least hit the target.

Garry O’Connor then drilled a great chance into the side netting with 13 minutes remaining and was left to rue that miss when Davies popped up three minutes from time to net an equaliser that stunned the visitors.