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Your support makes all the difference.Derby County. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Bolton Wanderers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
AS Craig Short pointed out after scoring twice to end Bolton's Cup crusade, a season of serious under-achievement could end up being fondly remembered as the one in which Derby made an unprecedented three appearances in two months at Wembley.
Already booked in for the Anglo-Italian Cup final there on 27 March, Arthur Cox's pounds 10m team are now just 180 minutes from the club's first FA Cup final since 1946. While not exactly turning up his nose at the prospect, Short's sights are fixed on a different date.
'I think we would swap everything we've done in the two Cups for a place in the First Division promotion play-off final,' the pounds 2.5m central defender from Notts County said. 'The whole point of all the money spent here is to get Derby County into the Premier League.'
The evidence of this unconvincing win over Second Division opposition, lacking three of the side who dispatched Liverpool, suggests that Derby will struggle to achieve their aim. However, footballers set great store by the truism about success breeding success, and the lack of confidence which has been contagious at the Baseball Ground may no longer be an impediment.
Bolton, who played worse and won at Wolves in the fourth round, again proved that underdogs need not behave like yard-dogs. With a team assembled for less than a third of Cox's outlay on Short, they provided most of the style on view (notwithstanding the sartorial splendour of the watching Frank Worthington's fedora and Franny Lee's jacket). Short admitted as much when he said: 'It's a nice change for us to play fairly ordinary football and win.'
The absence of Bolton's own twin towers, centre-backs Mark Seagraves and Mark Winstanley, proved crucial. There was no aerial challenge when Short headed Derby in front - thereby maintaining his record of scoring in every round - and an inadequate one when the tireless Marco Gabbiadini enabled Short to nullify Andy Walker's equaliser.
Walker had further chances, even after Paul Williams had plumped up a two-goal cushion for Derby. But when the move of the match ended with John McGinlay's 81st-minute header coming out of the woodwork, it was painfully obvious that Bolton had drawn the Short straw.
Derby thus proceed to the last eight for the first time since 1984, when Peter Taylor's team contrived to lose at home to Plymouth, although nothing less than a semi-final place will allow them to rival Bolton's special niche in the story of this season's competition.
Goals: Short (5) 1-0; Walker (30) 1-1; Short (63) 2-1; Williams (68) 3-1.
Derby County: Taylor; Patterson, Forsyth, Coleman, Short, Pembridge, Williams, Kuhl, Kitson, Gabbiadini, Simpson. Substitutes not used: Johnson, Comyn.
Bolton Wanderers: Branagan; Brown, Burke, Lee, Lydiate, Stubbs, Storer, McAteer, Walker, McGinlay, Patterson. Substitutes not used: Reeves, Darby.
Referee: B Hill (Kettering).
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