Birmingham manager Steve Bruce felt his side would have routed Derby if they had taken all their chances in a 2-1 victory at Pride Park.
Cameron Jerome, making his first start of the season, scored after just 30 seconds and then, following Matt Oakley's second-half equaliser, scored the winner just after the hour.
Bruce said he was delighted with the display of Jerome and strike partner Mikael Forssell, who could have had at least two himself before being replace in the second half.
"You don't get any better start than that. Fantastic," said Bruce.
"We made hard work of it but the only thing you can do is make chances and we should have been four up at half-time and the game should have been out of sight.
"You are sitting there fearing what might happen - and what did happen. They haven't created anything at all against us and we have missed chance after chance and we haven't taken them.
"We needed just to have taken the chances and that would have been a complete performance because it could have been a rout.
"Mikael Forssell could have had four today. I thought he and Cameron were immense and the two of them gave Derby a torrid time.
"It was certainly one of Cameron's best performances - and at this level - and he was excellent for us."
The hosts were not in the game until Oakley scored the equaliser from debutant Eddie Lewis' left-wing cross but even then they left wide open spaces at the back and Jerome took full advantage.
It left Derby boss Billy Davies feeling a few of his players had let him down with some "horrendous defending".
"It is individual mistakes that have cost us. We have to be more disciplined individually," he said.
"It is all about defenders defending and over the last few weeks we have given players too much space and time.
"There were patches in the game where they gave us some good stuff but it is the little things which are costing us dear.
"There was some horrendous marking and some horrendous defending and concentration. We talked about it before the game, we talked about learning from last week - apart from splitting people's heads open and dropping a note inside, the words could not be any clearer.
"We proved today there are one or two at this moment letting us down.
"It is disappointing because in the second half I felt we had them on the ropes."
Bruce said he was delighted with the display of Jerome and strike partner Mikael Forssell, who could have had at least two himself before being replace in the second half.
"You don't get any better start than that. Fantastic," said Bruce.
"We made hard work of it but the only thing you can do is make chances and we should have been four up at half-time and the game should have been out of sight.
"You are sitting there fearing what might happen - and what did happen. They haven't created anything at all against us and we have missed chance after chance and we haven't taken them.
"We needed just to have taken the chances and that would have been a complete performance because it could have been a rout.
"Mikael Forssell could have had four today. I thought he and Cameron were immense and the two of them gave Derby a torrid time.
"It was certainly one of Cameron's best performances - and at this level - and he was excellent for us."
The hosts were not in the game until Oakley scored the equaliser from debutant Eddie Lewis' left-wing cross but even then they left wide open spaces at the back and Jerome took full advantage.
It left Derby boss Billy Davies feeling a few of his players had let him down with some "horrendous defending".
"It is individual mistakes that have cost us. We have to be more disciplined individually," he said.
"It is all about defenders defending and over the last few weeks we have given players too much space and time.
"There were patches in the game where they gave us some good stuff but it is the little things which are costing us dear.
"There was some horrendous marking and some horrendous defending and concentration. We talked about it before the game, we talked about learning from last week - apart from splitting people's heads open and dropping a note inside, the words could not be any clearer.
"We proved today there are one or two at this moment letting us down.
"It is disappointing because in the second half I felt we had them on the ropes."
Copyright (c) Press Association
Related Articles
Championship club want Socceroo McGree to stay
3 Things We Learned: Western Sydney Wanderers vs Sydney FC
