Derby County 0 Sunderland 0: Dismal Derby labour in vain to clear air of defeatism

There was no winner, nor did there deserve to be, irrespective of the disallowed "goal" Roy Keane believed should have stood, from a match so devoid of quality that, were you a marketing man, you would shudder at the prospect of trying to sell tickets for doomed Derby's final five home fixtures in the Premier League. Just as well the next one is against Manchester United.

At least for Sunderland it was a trip worth making. A draw enables manager Keane to avoid a club record 11 straight away defeats on his watch but it remains to be seen what price his side may pay for failing to beat an opponent without a win in 22, home or away.

Reading's late winner at Middlesbrough leaves the Wearsiders a precarious two points above the bottom three and gave Keane even more cause to bemoan the offside flag that popped up in Derby's favour when Michael Chopra converted Andy Reid's cross after 14 minutes.

"Michael was well onside," Keane said. "You could tell that from the players' reactions at the time and having seen it again only confirms it. But we're not going to blame the officials. We had chances to win the game and we did not take them. It is two points dropped and we've no one to blame but ourselves.

"It will go down to the wire now and we are in therefighting. But you have to hope that the man upstairs is going to give you the benefit of the doubt on one or two decisions between now and the end of the season because the officials certainly aren't."

Jewell's mood was better, although it could hardly have been worse than a week ago, when Derby's abject performance at Wigan left him struggling to find words adequate to sum up his dismay. It prompted five changes in his team. A couple were forced by injury, although in the case of Robbie Savage, his £1.5 million signing from Blackburn, Jewell admitted that poor form was to blame.

"Robbie would be the first to admit he has not played well recently," Jewell said. "Sometimes a spell out of the team is what a player needs and Robbie might even be back next week."

What Derby needed was not so much a change in personnel as a transformation in attitude, a banishing of the defeatism that has clouded Pride Park since acceptance took hold, long before Christmas even, that the side Jewell inherited from Billy Davies was not good enough to stay up.

At least there was a bit more fight, although it was Sunderland, with Reid pulling the strings in midfield until his fitness caught up with him in the second half, who came closest to scoring. Chopra had a chance with a header before his disallowed effort and Daryl Murphy came within the width of a post of scoring Sunderland's first away goal in more than six hours. The Irish striker had another shot saved by Roy Carroll and also went close with a back-header from a Reid free-kick.

Sunderland sent on Anthony Stokes, who had snatched a late winner when the sides met in the North-east in December, in the hope of forcing the issue. They almost did so, through Danny Higginbotham, whose late, goalbound effort was blocked by Hossam Ghaly as Derby desperately clung to their 10th point of the season.

Derby collected more cautions – five – than shots on target and Jewell, whose sense of humour remains intact despite everything, made no attempt to talk up the game as a spectacle.

"It was rubbish, to be honest," he said, "like watching paint dry. But at least we got a point."

Six more from their last 10 games and they will overhaul Sunderland's record low of two seasons ago. But you would not bank on it.