Clough not downhearted by defeat

Clough wants to trim the Derby squad he inherited from Paul Jewell

Derby County manager Nigel Clough has said he is not downhearted after the Rams' 1-0 defeat at Birmingham which has left them in the relegation zone.

Former Rams midfielder Lee Carsley's second-half header saw Derby go third from bottom in the Championship.

Clough told BBC Radio Derby: "It was a very good performance in everything but the result to come to third in the league and play in the manner we did.

"We'd rather play like that every week because if we do we'll be OK."

Clough said: "If we had come here and struggled there would have been more reason to be downhearted about it but that wasn't the case.

"There's progress and improvement but they've got to start turning that into results."

Derby, who face Coventry on Saturday, are one point off safety.