Derby have the measure of Gills

Gillingham 0 Derby County

Jim Smith has seen and done most things in a quarter-century of management and he was in no mood to encourage the romance of the FA Cup third round last night.

His Derby team, hauled down to Kent for the second Tuesday in succession, produced the sort of performance last night's tricky looking tie at Gillingham required. Compact and committed, they matched their Second Division opponents for endeavour and spirit and simply waited for the inevitable mistake.

It duly came after 53 minutes, enabling Ron Willems to score. Robbie van der Laan added a second with three minutes left but by then it was academic. Gillingham, shorn of four forwards by injury, sickness, ineligibility and suspension, had never looked likely to score.Victory earned Derby a home game on Saturday against the winners of tonight's third-round tie between Aston Villa and Notts County.

Derby did need a slice of fortune, both goals being made by substitutes who had barely had time to stretch. Maybe that was Smith's inspiration rather than chance but he certainly had nothing to do with their other moment of good luck.

That was provided by Paul Alcock, the referee, after 43 minutes. He was just 10 yards away when a rogue elbow from Sean Flynn left Simon Ratcliffe writhing on the ground. Gillingham fans, remembering that Alcock had sent two of their players off in last year's third round at Reading, bayed for the red card.

A few months ago he would have waved it but these days it seems players can get away with all manner of sins. Alcock showed yellow and the home crowd, still simmering after the referee's bizarre abandonment of the first match after 66 minutes, responded with chants of "Alcock, no balls".

The incident might, one felt, inspire a bit more passion in a strangely subdued home team but instead it concentrated Derby minds. After a first half in which neither goalkeeper had made a save, they brought on Van der Laan.

Eight minutes into the half he was left unmarked to head Gary Rowett's corner goalwards. As Gillingham's defence watched, Van der Laan's Dutch compatriot Willems guided the ball past Jim Stannard.

A minute later Stannard made an instant reaction save from Van der Laan as Derby looked to kill off the tie. He later denied Dean Sturridge with an equally impressive stop but Gillingham's weakened forward line was unable to reward their goalkeeper's efforts.

They did force Russell Hoult into a save but by then the game was in injury time and Derby had scored again, Van der Laan touching in a cross from substitute Paul Simpson.

It was Derby's first win in eight games and Smith admitted: "It was a big win. No disrespect to Gillingham but to lose here would have been a bad result. Yet while it's nice to be in the next round, success for us this year is surviving in the Premiership."

Gillingham (3-5-2): Stannard; Green, Bryant, Butters; O'Connor (Puttnam, 53), Smith, Pennock, Ratcliffe, Thomas (Chapman, 76); Hessenthaler, Butler. Substitute not used: Harris.

Derby County (3-5-2): Hoult; Laursen, McGrath, Rowett; Carsley, Flynn, Dailly, D Powell (Van der Laan, h-t), C Powell; Willems (Carbon, 90), Sturridge (Simpson, 87).

Referee: P Alcock (Redhill).

Last night's results, page 25