Paik Seung-Ho scored his first goal since December to give Birmingham a 2-1 victory over Derby at Pride Park. Bobby Clark put Derby ahead only for Carlos Vicente to reply minutes later and Seung-Ho won it after a lengthy stoppage for what looked like a serious injury to Derby's Henrik Meister. Birmingham had looked the sharper side in the first half and a quick break in the 23rd minute left Derby short at the back and Vicente cut inside to unleash a shot which went narrowly wide.
Eiran Cashin almost gifted Birmingham a goal in the 29th minute with a back pass which Jacob Widell Zetterstrom just kept out with his right foot. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Derby were in trouble three minutes later when a poor clearance from Sondre Langas fell to Jay Stansfield and his shot beat Zetterstrom but hit the centre-back and bounced to safety. The home side had created little until the 40th minute when a clever pass by Sam Szmodics found the run of Clark who beat James Beadle at his near post.
But the lead lasted just two minutes as Liam Millar crossed to the back post where Vicente got in front of Charlie Taylor to head in. The second half was only a couple of minutes old when Meister went down off the ball on the edge of the centre circle. There was a stoppage of around seven minutes while the forward received medical attention before being taken away on a stretcher.
When the game restarted, Derby put Birmingham under pressure, forcing Beadle to turn away a Mo Fuseini shot at full stretch. At the other end, Alex Cochrane fired in a 20-yard shot which Zetterstrom could only parry and when the ball went behind for a corner, Birmingham scored. Miller swung the ball over and substitute Seung-Ho, who had only been on the pitch for four minutes, headed in from close range Derby responded strongly but Birmingham were close to a third when Vicente's low shot was blocked by Zetterstrom, who then made a flying save to deny Stansfield.
Birmingham should have wrapped it up in the 89th minute when Luis Vazquez fired over an empty net from two yards after Ethan Laird's shot had been parried. With 13 minutes of time added on, Birmingham had to hope that would not prove costly but it needed a goal-line block by a blue shirt to deny Szmodics. Another block by Christoph Klarer denied Szmodics again and Carlton Morris saw a shot charged down as Birmingham held on.
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