Football: Derby given glimpse of future by Smith's blast from the past

THE ROAD to Wembley is lined with the corpses of teams who did not deserve to perish. Derby County finally tossed aside Swansea's and left South Wales believing they can improve on a poor Cup record of recent years.

Two quarter-finals are the best they have achieved. Jim Smith has been closer, desperately so when Portsmouth lost to Liverpool on penalties in the semi-finals in 1992, and he would be a popular choice to lead out one of the teams at Wembley on 22 May.

After 30 years in management, he may have mellowed - "Jim Smith, The Tea-Cup Throwing Years" will be only part one of the autobiography - but courses are still on offer in (very) basic English to his cosmopolitan playing staff on requisite occasions, of which half-time on Saturday was one. "I can still turn the air blue when I have to," Smith said. "Some strong words were said, because we'd been very disappointing. Had we not improved, there was a major danger that we would have gone out."

As ever, that was an honest assessment. Swansea had created the only chances in the first 45 minutes, as well as looking the more determined side: a dreadful indictment of men on Premiership salaries. After Deon Burton and goalkeeper Mart Poom had been left lying injured following the home side's first attack, Spencer Prior, the captain, was one of too few players ready to meet dragon's fire with fire.

Burton, still suffering, was withdrawn before half-time, allowing Kevin Harper an opportunity to prove that his worth is more than the pounds 300,000 Smith paid for him earlier in the season. The former Hibernian striker belatedly gave the home goalkeeper Roger Freestone some work to do, though nothing initially that compared to Mart Poom's two stops from Swansea's Nick Cusack. It was nine minutes from time before Horacio Carbonari produced one touch of class to elude his man and place a cross on the unmarked Harper's head.

Matthew Bound's header wide was the last act of defiance from the dying Swans, whose proud and impressive manager John Hollins has transformed them from the ugly ducklings placed just above the bottom of the Third Division last May.

Now Hollins and the club's reconstituted board, with a new pounds 25m stadium to fund, may find it difficult to resist the offers that will undoubtedly come in for players like the wide midfielder Stuart Roberts. "Overall they have to be very proud of what they've achieved," Hollins said. "Now we've got to get stuck in and hopefully get out of this league."

Meanwhile Derby, whose last visit to the Vetch had been for a Third Division fixture, were setting their heights on seeing the Twin Towers before they are demolished. They will need to show greater commitment to the cause, but there is every chance of Smith ensuring that.

Goal: Harper (81) 0-1.

Swansea City (4-4-2): Freestone; Jones, Bound, O'Leary (Bird 82), Howard; Roberts, Cusack, Lacey, Coates (Appleby, 68); Watkin, Alsop. Substitutes not used: Price, Jenkins, Jones (gk).

Derby County (3-4-1-2): Poom; Prior, Carbonari, Schnoor; Laursen, Carsley, Bohinen (Kozluk, 82), Dorigo; Baiano (Elliott, 62); Burton (Harper, 44), Sturridge. Substitutes not used: Hunt, Hoult (gk).

Referee: G Barber (Tring).

Bookings: Swansea: Watkin, Alsop, Cusack. Derby: Schnoor, Sturridge.

Man of the match: Cusack.

Attendance: 11,383.