We are deep into injury time, the time already past 5pm on a grey autumn afternoon and the crowd is urgently imploring referee Hall to blow his whistle. Three minutes of additional play had been indicated, four had already been played when finally the contest is ended, a great cry of triumph is shouted, and the two sets of supporters exit the scene into the softly tumbling rain with a shared sense of wonderment: "how did that happen"?

How indeed. This was a breathless afternoon which got underway 13 minutes late after kick-off was delayed owing to the the grisly traffic congestion on the A63. Peter Taylor made a trio of alterations to the side that manfully held Reading in midweek, carding: Myhill; Lynch, Cort, Delaney, Edge; France, Welsh, Woodhouse, Elliott; Brown, Burgess. Intriguingly, Barmby was not among the substitutes either. Derby welcomed back Stern John, Andrew Davies and Marc Edworthy, with Idiakez and ex-White Shite Johnson paired together in midfield.

City kicked off attacking the South Stand and instantly seized the initiative, almost taking the lead after three minutes when a France corner was flapped at by octogenarian keeper Poole, but Burgess' looping header was cleared off the line by Edworthy. However, with most of the play in Derby's half City came close to permitting a breakaway goal when Bisgaard tore through the midfield, played a perfect pass into the feet of Peschisolido in space to his left. Happily, the striker pulled his shot a couple of yards wide of Myhill's left hand post, a glaring and costly miss.

On 13 minutes, City took the lead. France took possession and bounded down the right with much of Derby's defence stranded up field. He squared it to Brown, who spotted the unguarded run of Elliott and swiftly transferred the ball into his path. Elliott struck it first time from the edge of the area and the ball flew into the net past Poole. A fine goal, intelligent conceived and expertly converted. 1-0 City, and deservedly so.

Derby were ragged, a shorn with its confidence shredded in the face of a venomous Tiger onslaught. Elliott send a thunderous 35-yard narrowly over, his confidence evidently restored after a rest and a great goal. Burgess had a header saved as City piled forward in search of a knock-out blow.

We didn't land one, and gradually the visitors cleared their heads and realised that they were still in the contest. Seth Johnson, his former association with the evil empire to the west being unfavourably received, began to assert himself in the midfield. Idiakez too came into the game, his thoughtful passing and simple, tidy style of play turning the game in favour of the visitors. The game entered a chanceless but absorbing battle as City sought to reverse the loss of momentum. Derby were not to be denied however, and when scoring opportunities returned they were primarily with the visitors.

Peschisolido, Smith and John all had unsuccessful attempts on goal and the Tigers started to look a little frayed. Elliott headed well in a rare foray towards Poole's goal. Elliott earned himself a caution for a rather ungainly lunge on Kenna, following Whittingham into our officious official's well-thumbed notebook. With half-time approaching and most of us silently praying for its arrival, Derby came horribly close to equalising when John smacked a meaty shot onto the bar with Myhill helpless to prevent it. Bisgaard sent an effort timidly wide, and still they came. A dangerous free kick 22 yards out provided a superb opportunity for Idiakez, but his shot was rather more hurried than necessary and it sailed wide. Half-time finally arrived.

Would the break provide the chance for City to compose themselves and come out determined to preserve the lead in slightly less panicky fashion? Not really. Woodhouse sent a shot wide but the pattern remained frustratingly similar. Myhill pouched a rasping shot from Johnson at the second attempt before the first moment of real controversy. John rose to head home a Tommy Smith cross, but it was disallowed for climbing on Delaney. Hmm. This was a moment of good fortune for City, as the offence didn't look severe enough to warrant a free-kick, but the irksome fussiness of Hall probably made the decision a foregone conclusion.

Two minutes later, he awarded Derby a penalty. Johnson wormed free in the area, Cort went to ground and although the ex-Leeds midfielder's turfward tumble was a little on the effete side, the aforementioned traffic-warden-stylee approach of our merry whistleblower was never going to let us get away with it. Idiakez walloped the penalty high into the middle of the goal, and at 1-1 we seemed in real danger of defeat.

The cautions were now beginning to steadily accumulate, Davies entering the notebook for a series of fouls. Both our full-backs were looking distressingly uncomfortable, while midfield control had been wholly wrested from us. Johnson, frankly, was outstanding, unanswerable supreme. Chances continue to be created and wasted. City badly needed something, anything to alter the flow of the game. The manager obliges by replacing the disappointing Lynch with Green and Fagan for Burgess. France slots in at right-back - not quite the Swan Option of yesteryear, but nonetheless a regularly effective tactical manoeuvre. Fagan trots out to play in an advanced position wide on the right while Green is charged with bulking up the midfield. It works, sort of. Derby's superiority is dented, and their threat is lessened further when Smith limps off.

Woodhouse is cautioned, so too is Tudgay. Referee Hall is ensuring himself a busy Sunday with oodles of caution forms to compile, a task one suspects he views with no little relish. One final tweak sees Edge replaced by Joseph, and we are resolutely set to defend our point.

I'm sorry, did I see "defend our point"? "Scorch upfield and win the game", I obviously meant. And while there was little scorching - barely the slightest evidence of combustion did we see - but win the game we did. Oh yes. Kenna sent a hopelessly weak header back to his keeper, Brown neatly intercepted it and was dragged to the ground by Edworthy. A clear penalty immediately given, the only surprise being that Edworthy received only a caution. Idiakez joined in the fun, seeing yellow for dissent, before Stuart Green was entrusted with the kick. Let me confess that I feared the very worst, but he nervelessly strode forward, passed the ball confidently in the corner and beat Poole's dive. The ground went berserk. 2-1 City, with seven minutes remaining.

Two minutes later, Hall removed any final chance of being on Derby boss Phil Brown's Christmas card list by chalking off a second Derby goal. Green fouled the ubiquitous Idiakez (and was yellow carded, amazingly), and from the free-kick Davies climbed high to head past Myhill. Unfortunately for him, the whistle had already gone for a City free-kick, our hero in black adjudging that he'd climbed illegally. This time the referee had called it correctly, but Davies' protests were understandably vehement, sufficiently so as to give Hall the excuse to give his thus far underused red card an outing.

Derby were besides themselves with frustration, both at the referee and their own miserable inability to convert chances into goals. Johnson became their sixth caution of a colourful afternoon as his composure went, and City were able to hang with Derby's sense of injustice completely blowing their game to pieces. Fittingly, Bisgaard earnt himself a yellow card after full-time for rather witlessly haranguing the ref, but this all paled into insignificance as the greater part of an impressive 20,661 crowd celebrated a priceless win.

A breathlessly exciting afternoon. The Circle has seen many thrilling moments in its short lifetime, but this game will stand among them. Three goals, a City win, a rousing atmosphere (aided by 2,000 admirably loud Derby fans) a red card, two penalties, two disallowed goals and some sparkling play from both sides. Although one cannot deny that they were bitterly unfortunate to leave empty-handed, they must also accept that their own profligacy cost them very dearly. A total of 20 shots rained down upon Myhill's goal - that they scored only from a penalty is a fairly damning indictment of their slovenly finishing.

And what of City? The opening twenty minutes were as good as anything we've seen this season. We were sleek, sharp and wily. When we were on top, we made the most of it and scored a sumptuously tasty goal. When we were not, we clung on and refused to let the game slip beyond us. It has become a feature of our recent games that although we spent periods being outplayed (this is the Championship after all, and we are new to it) we do not crumble or permit numerous goals to be scored. The rewards have now been seen at Southampton and yesterday, and for that the players deserve credit.

City lie in 12th place, having zoomed five places up the table. We have a neutral goal difference, and encouragingly for a side whose ability to score was being questioned recently, we have scored in each of our last six matches. The play-offs remain beyond our capabilities at this stage, but the evidence is increasingly accumulating that we will not go down. We cannot realistically wish for more.

And finally, lest we be in any doubt about the progress we are making, the draw for the First Round of the FA Cup was made last night. We were not included in it.  (AD)