Jewell joy at last

Paul Jewell has finally found something to celebrate after a torrid year in charge of Derby.

He saw his re-built side overcome Premier League side Stoke to reach the Carling Cup semi-finals with a dramatic injury-time penalty winner from Nathan Ellington.

The Britannia Stadium fans have become used to seeing their physical side steamroller their way to vital victories this season.

But Derby reached a League Cup semi-final for the first time since Brian Clough’s time at the club with a 1-0 away victory last night.

Clough’s achievement came in his first season, 40 years ago, and now Jewell’s men stand one round from Wembley.

Jewell was barely able to hide his professional embarrassment last season as Derby floundered in the top flight, winning just one game and picking up only 11 points in a campaign of horror for their supporters.

But almost 5,000 Derby fans braved the snow and bitter cold last night to roar their team to an unexpected victory, against top-flight new boys forging a formidable reputation on their own patch.

Jewell said: “Last season in the Premier League we got mullered every week, it was tough for everyone. It was going to be a re-building job after relegation and victories like this one are a step forward.

“Any victory is very important, and to get to a semi-final against a Premier League team gives us great satisfaction.

“But I have been at Derby a year and we have not had many good nights. So this was a good one, but we must enjoy it and keep our feet on the ground.

“We have to use what we have got from this as a benchmark. It shows we can compete. There is no more difficult team in the country to play against, physically, than Stoke.”

He added: “It we can match Stoke then we can match Crystal Palace next, we can match Wolves physically. We may not be the best team in the world, but if you can become hard to beat you can move forward.

“When I first went to Wigan we were not a great team but nobody liked playing us. Just like no-one likes playing Stoke.

“We have got to get to that level and improve gradually as we move along. This is nice for the supporters, and they deserve it.”

Jewell added: “Maybe I’d rather have three points instead of every Carling Cup win, but of course we are enjoying this run.

“You try telling the supporters who travelled to see us that they could have 15 points for five games rather than this cup success and you know what they would say.

“This is for them. They had to suffer the humiliation of last season, and now we are in a semi-final. “In our last three away games at Ipswich, Burnley and Reading we have been rubbish. We have not been vibrant, sharp or strong in the tackle and nothing has been going for us.

“But at Stoke our supporters helped us with the atmosphere they created. If we were not up for it at a place like that we would have been murdered.”

Jewell praised his defence, saying: “Our two centre-backs were terrific. Darren Powell and James Tomkins got better and better as the game went on. Tomkins has only just arrived here on loan from West Ham, and he coped really well with everything Stoke could throw at us.

“He’s just a kid, but a good player. And he barely knows anyone but he was over with the fans throwing his shirt to them, and you could see how much it meant to him.

“But he will be charged for the shirt, he didn’t know that when he did it, but that will cost him a few bob.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis said: “It is our fault we have been beaten. Derby were smashing, they created some good chances. But we missed so many, Fuller missed four on his own.

“We are desperately disappointed, we but it was just not our night."