Barnes spares Rams blushes

Coca-Cola Championship strugglers Wednesday led 2-0 after just 23 minutes courtesy of goals from 18-year-old Mark Beevers and Marcus Tudgay, but Paul Jewell will return to his old Hillsborough stamping ground as Kenny Miller and Giles Barnes salvaged a third-round replay.

For 35 minutes, though, Derby were as bad - if not worse - than they have been at any stage of what has been an abysmal season, and it was no wonder they were the target of taunts from over 5,500 Owls fans.

In the eighth minute, Lewis Price dived low to his right onto Beevers' 20-yard drive, only to spill the ball and watch ashen-faced as it trundled in. But Derby's failings did not stop there as in the 15th minute Craig Fagan sidefooted over an open goal after Gary Teale's cross bounced off the bar.

Then midway through the half Darren Moore joined the error-prone club as he attempted to back flick a ball on to Price. But the veteran centre-back barely got off the ground as the ball skimmed off the top of his head and fell into the path of Tudgay, whose precise shot sneaked inside the left-hand post.

However, seven minutes from the break, Scotland striker Miller gave Derby hope as he made amends for a miss just two minutes earlier when he only had Lee Grant to beat.

Grant had also denied Miller just after the half hour, but he had no chance with a shot on the turn from 15 yards following a ball into the area from Fagan. Then in the 44th minute Barnes capitalised on inept defending from Wednesday and fired home a left-foot shot from 15 yards.

With the goals came confidence, and Derby should have clinched a place in the fourth-round as they had the chances in the second half. Within a minute Eddie Lewis dawdled on a shot following a fine run by Teale, while Barnes saw a 20-yard shot deflected inches wide.

Johnson also headed narrowly over and Barnes cleared the bar with a 25-yard free-kick before Grant pulled off a superb save to turn aside Teale's close-range volley.

Wednesday went close via a downward header from Tudgay that was saved on the line by Price, while another former Ram in Deon Burton had a goal disallowed late on.