Krystian Bielik’s spectacular stoppage-time overhead kick earned struggling Derby an unlikely 2-2 Championship draw at home to Birmingham.
It was a fairytale finish to an emotionally-charged contest with the Poland defender being brought off the bench by Wayne Rooney to make his first appearance a year to the day since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
The Rams had been trailing to goals from on-loan Nottingham Forest forward Lyle Taylor and Scott Hogan before Luke Plange reduced the deficit in the 87th minute, which paved the way for Bielik’s stunning leveller.
Prior to kick-off, over 1,000 Derby fans marched from the city centre together and demonstrated outside Pride Park to raise awareness of the club’s off-field plight in front of the live television cameras.
That defiant atmosphere was also evident when the Rams players were raucously welcomed onto the pitch by a sell-out crowd.
But – after home striker Plange demonstrated neat footwork before drilling an early chance at Birmingham goalkeeper Neil Etheridge – it was the visitors who forged in front.
Debutant Taylor had netted in just two of his last 36 outings before being offloaded by Forest, but took just seven minutes to open his account for the Blues.
After Ryan Woods lifted the ball over the Derby back line, Onel Hernandez then escaped the attention of Curtis Davies through the right channel and squared the ball to Taylor, who sidefooted a 12-yard shot into Ryan Allsop’s bottom-left corner.
It proved a big fillip for Lee Bowyer’s men with pantomime villain Taylor only denied a second by Allsop after meeting Kristian Pedersen’s left-wing cross at the far post.
Derby finally settled a little and Max Bird dragged an effort wide following Kamil Jozwiak’s 19th-minute lay-off.
But Birmingham top scorer Hogan should have doubled the advantage on the stroke of half-time when he blasted the ball straight at Allsop after being sent clear on goal by Hernandez.
Hogan was more decisive when presented with a second chance to claim his 10th goal of the season after 56 minutes as he tucked a sidefooted shot past Allsop from seven yards out, after being picked out by Woods’ right-wing cross.
He was wasteful again, though, moments later when – after being teed up in the identical position by Taylor – he swept the ball across Allsop’s goal.
Derby had not threatened the away goal since the interval but substitute Festy Ebosele stung Etheridge’s palms from distance after 69 minutes and Davies headed off target from a Bird corner.
Colin Kazim-Richards also went close with a thumping edge-of-the-box strike and a Lawrence effort deflected off an unwitting Marc Roberts’ head and over.
Plange then threw the hosts a lifeline by curling in from 15 yards and, responding to the exhortations of a vociferous home faithful, the equaliser came in the sixth minute off added time after Bielik was fouled by Hernandez.
Keeper Allsop was sent upfield for the subsequent free-kick but it was Davies who won the header for Bielik to show all of his athleticism and beat Etheridge from 10 yards.
The point also nudged the troubled Rams to within seven points of a position of safety.
