|
The visitors should have had the match sewn up long before Steve Davies turned in a free-kick from Nacer Barazite four minutes from the end to cancel out Quincy Owusu-Abeyie's 26th minute opener.
The result will have been a big disappointment for Birmingham manager Alex McLeish, who had become increasingly frustrated at his team's wasteful passing in the final third.
They had the openings to finish Derby off but the final ball let them down too often and James McFadden and Garry O'Connor also missed good chances.
Derby deserve credit for hanging on after losing key defender Martin Albrechtsen in the 18th minute to a hamstring injury that clearly upset his team's composure.
Derby lacked understanding and authority once the Dane had gone off and they were trailing eight minutes later when Birmingham scored a classic counter-attacking goal.
Owusu-Abeyie tackled Barazite just outside the Birmingham penalty area and sprinted away before passing to McFadden on the right.
McFadden rolled the ball back into the midfielder's path and his right-foot shot from 16 yards left Roy Carroll with no chance.
Derby had offered little in the way of a threat and Birmingham looked increasingly in control, but they could not find a second goal.
McFadden should have done much better when he drove over the bar from 12 yards after a neat passing move in the 56th minute and O'Connor dragged a shot just wide when Marcus Bent released him.
There was always a chance they might regret those missed opportunities and the first warning shot came when Maik Taylor had to turn a shot from Barazite over the bar.
But with four minutes remaining, Birmingham conceded a free-kick and Barazite lifted the ball into the box where Davies helped it into the top left corner from ten yards to silence the 2,500 visiting fans.
There was almost a dramatic winner for Birmingham in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Radhi Jaidi headed a corner goalwards, but Carroll athletically got back to tip the ball to safety and preserve a hard-earned point for his side.