To say this match epitomized the combined struggles of Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday is something of an understatement.

Derby County 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Miller 38, Barnes 44; Beevers 8, Tudgay 23

The basic problem for both teams is defending and keeping possession and that was plain for all to see at a somewhat entertaining but largely frustrating F.A. Cup tie at Pride Park. Of course you would expect the Rams, supposedly a Premiership outfit; to be far superior in both instances but you wouldn't know it given yesterdays frankly shocking display against the Championship strugglers.

Yes there were positives, a rare fight back and some good forward play, particularly by Kenny Miller did at least provide some hope for a home crowd shaking their heads in collective disbelief at their teams continuing defensive collapses. Darren Moore unfortunately looks well past his prime and you wonder how much the ever-willing but increasingly suspect defender has left in the tank; his mistake to allow Marcus Tudgay the chance to score Wednesday's second was indicative of his season and perhaps it's time for the big man to make way for Lewin Nyatanga.

Speaking of moving on, perhaps it's time for Giles Barnes to ride off into the sunset; whilst his talent is exceptional his application and desire is falling far short of the standard required and whilst he is young this is no forgiving what appears from the stand to be an ever-growing desire on his part to be somewhere else. To be fair, he did score the Rams' equalising goal but his lack of energy in what is supposed to be his preferred position is costing us; you cannot afford to be lethargic when playing in central midfield and I'm starting to wonder just how much young Giles might fetch when he gets his move away from Pride Park; £5million? Is that now too much to ask for based on his performances or will his potential still earn the Rams a big fee?

Hopefully it will be the latter.

There were some positives as I said and one of them was Andy Todd's return to first team action; his performance wasn't all that great but given that he clearly wasn't fit he was willing and he give ninety minutes of effort whilst Claude Davis cried off with another injury problem. Hopefully he might just provide some calmness in the calamity that has been the Derby County defence for much of the season and if he doesn't, at least we will know rather that wondering about it whilst he's sitting prone on the sidelines.

Another positive was the all-action debut of Danny Mills who, whilst he is unlikely to ever win any points for style, put in a typically committed display but whom also looked pretty sound on the ball and showed a good range of passing; given the Rams' constant inability to retain possession for much of the season this was a welcome change of pace and one that will hopefully continue.

The only other real positive was the movement of Kenny Miller who looks a class above against Championship opponents; indeed he'd probably look a fair bit better in the top flight were he playing in a side that could play to that strength rather than punting long balls into his general direction. Kenny took one of his three chances with a smart turn and finish past Lee Grant to get the Rams back into the game and he generally caused Wednesday all sorts of problems; hopefully his upcoming partnership with Emanuel Villa will blossom and make the Rams a more consistent threat.

Aside from those three however, the Rams were pretty woeful for much of the match, especially the first half hour. It's not even as if we were facing the Championship's top striker force; Tudgay and Franny Jeffers is hardly a pairing to strike fear into the hearts of men but they were made to look like world-beaters at times by Derby's haphazard marking.

The first goal was not particularly well defended but the main culprit was not Moore or Todd but rather young Lewis Price who made a bad error in allowing Lee Beevers' relatively tame effort to bounce off of his body and into the goal. To be fair to Price that's his only mistake since coming into the side and given some of the saves he's made and his sure handedness when dealing with crosses it's hard to be too critical of the Welsh international stopper.

The aforementioned second was the fault of Darren Moore whose attempt at a defensive header did nothing more than fall to the feet of Marcus Tudgay who took the gift and finished with aplomb. So 23 minutes gone and two goals down at home to Sheffield Wednesday; could it have been any worse?

Fortunately, Wednesday are no great shakes at the back either and on the half hour Miller got his first chance who gets on the end of Mills' pass before being denied by Grant's smart save. Shortly afterwards Mears became the latest injury victim and was replaced by the soon to be Sheffield Wednesday player Michael Johnson with Mills moving over to his preferred position on the right side.

I'm getting ahead myself mind because I've failed to mention Craig Fagan's horror miss when he managed to spoon the ball over from five yards after Teale's clever header has come back off the bar with Lee Grant in his familiar territory of no-man's land.

Chances were coming however and on 38 minutes Miller bagged his 4 th of the season (7 th if you count his hat-trick for Celtic) when he slipped between the static Wednesday defence to rifle the ball past Grant.

It got better for the Rams as they achieved parity on the stroke of half-time; the Owls made a complete hash of defending Eddie Lewis' corner and the ball eventually fell to Barnes who showed enough composure to fire the ball home from the edge of the area and suddenly it was game on again.

Unfortunately the second half didn't see much in terms of quality but one big chance was spurned when Lewis took an age to pull the trigger after Teale's excellent cut back; the American winger should have shot first shot first time but was instead crowded out allowing Wednesday to force a replay at Hillsborough on Tuesday week.

The winners face Preston... ooh if that doesn't get you going I don't know what will!

Full-Time: Derby 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday

Rams: Price 4; Mears 4 (Johnson 6); Mills 6; Moore 4; Todd 5; Teale 4 (Macken 5); Oakley 5; Barnes 4; Lewis 5; Fagan 5; Miller 7.

Sheffield Wednesday: Grant; Bullen; Hinds; Beevers; Spurr; Johnson; O'Brien; Whelan; Esajas; Tudgay; Jeffers (Burton).

Referee: P. Dowd.

Attendance: 20,612.

Photo: Action Images

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