Craig Fagan has backed Derby's threadbare squad to end their away-day misery at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night.The Rams, who prop up the Premier League table, have failed in all 11 of their attempts to win away from home this season, losing nine times and drawing twice.

They must now head to Hillsborough for their FA Cup third-round replay shorn of new arrivals Robbie Savage, Hossam Ghaly, Laurent Robert and Emanuel Villa because the quartet signed after the first meeting with Wednesday, thus making them ineligible.

As if that were not enough, Paul Jewell's side are certain to be without Claude Davis, Jay McEveley, Stephen Pearson, Stephen Bywater, David Jones and Dean Leacock - leading scorer Kenny Miller is also doubtful - leaving County down to the bare bones.

Owls manager Brian Laws courted controversy before the Pride Park clash by describing Derby as "ripe for the picking" and that prediction looked set to come true as Wednesday raced into a 2-0 lead within 23 minutes.

But goals from Kenny Miller and Giles Barnes were enough to earn them another chance to book a fourth-round clash at home to Preston.

Fagan revealed Laws' comments did not go unnoticed in the Derby dressing room and believes the fact some of the club's fringe players have a point to prove can work in their favour.

"We will be going there to upset him and what he's thinking," Fagan said.

"I fancy us, there's a lot of people who will be coming in that haven't played for a while and will want to impress so we're going to go there and give it a go and hopefully get a win."

A minimum of eight top-flight sides are certain to have exited the competition by the fourth-round stage and Fagan is desperate to avoid the Rams adding to that number.

He said: "There have been a couple of Premier League scalps already. We managed to get ourselves back in the game from 2-0 down so we are still in the draw and we need to win.

"We showed a bit of spirit which maybe we have been lacking the first bit of the season and it gives us a chance."

Watford found themselves in a similar predicament at the foot of the table last season but still enjoyed a successful run to the FA Cup semi-finals, where it took Manchester United to knock them out.

And while Fagan admits a similar effort would by no means make up for Derby's league position, he acknowledges it would at least give their fans something to cheer.

"Why not have a cup run?" he said. "We can maybe beat Sheffield Wednesday and go on and beat Preston.

"It pays back the fans but it doesn't keep you in the league, does it? It's just another way of winning games.

"Why not go and see how far we can get in the cup and pay back the fans for the great support they have shown.

"I think there were 31,000 again there this weekend (for the 1-0 to defeat to Wigan) and it just shows what support we have."

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