Some dodgy officials and clinical finishing sent Albion out of the cup.

Albion started well and had Derby on the back foot. Fleetwood and Murray linked well together and the first chance fell to Fleetwood - a ball through to him came from Murray on the left which he blasted goal-ward only for it to be amazingly cleared off the line.

Moments later Fleetwood was running to goal and squared it to Murray who slotted home, but was adjudged to be offside. Wrong decision...

Albion were then made to pay for another bad decision. Sullivan was fouled in the box, the ball fell to Villa who scored but the goal shouldn't have stood.

From this point Derby began to take over and five minutes later Ellington doubled their lead with a neat finish. Albion looked dead and buried but from a set piece up rose Elphick who headed home to make it 2-1 at half time.

The second half was a completely different matter. Albion never really got going and two good passing moves and two good goals from Villa made the score a flattering 4-1. The result did not do us justice but then neither did the officials on the night.

We have a hard FA Cup game against Hartlepool on Saturday, with most of our loan players not playing it is going to be a tough one.

Player Ratings:
Sullivan 6
Whing 6
Elphick 7
Hawkins 6
Richards 6
Cox 5
Thomson 3
Thornton 7
Anyinsah 7
Murray 7
Fleetwood 7

El-Abd 5
McLeod 5
Livermore 5