Derby County 2 - Hull City 2

Phil Brown had the last laugh on his return to top of the table Derby County at Pride Park as his gutsy Hull side rescued a priceless point to move out of the relegation zone and put the brakes on Derby's promotion charge.

The opening 15 minutes saw both teams signal their intent. Derby seemed relaxed on the ball, passing it around in defence and building attacks through the vision of David Jones. Hull defended stoutly and looked promising on the counter, with the pace of Nicky Forster and strength of Jon Parkin keeping the Derby defence on their toes. Neither team, though, could muster a clear-cut chance.

Despite a catalogue of desperate clearances and blocked shots, the ball somehow failed to end up in the back of the net. Instead it fell on the edge of the penalty area to Stephen Pearson, who left the Hull defence in his wake as he raced into opposition territory. He slid the ball across the penalty area to the advancing Gary Teale, with the winger placing the ball into the far left corner to score his first goal in a Derby shirt.

Rather than imploding as usual, Hull searched for an equaliser. They didn't have to wait long as Darren Moore committed a needless foul on Parkin. From the resulting free-kick, Andy Dawson flighted a unstoppable 25-yard shot past Bywater to draw the Tigers level. The goal seemed to have given the away side a lift, as Myhill denied Pearson's header with a reflex save. But deep into first-half stoppage time, Hull were undone as Moore found space to force home Jones' in-swinging corner.

Hull were also very wasteful. Forster and McPhee both skied the ball into the stands after forcing the Derby defence on to the back foot. Hull persisted on the counter-attack, but Derby never looked in danger of conceding.

Both managers made changes - Davies looking for the goal that would put daylight between the two sides, and Brown desperately seeking an equaliser. A third for Derby looked on the cards as Barnes' snapshot from an acute angle forced Myhill to tip the ball away. Hull pounced on some flat-footed defending to snatch a good equaliser.