With Derby dealing with early season injury woes, which only last week included a list of eight senior players, the return of last season’s leading scorer Carlton Morris was a timely one for a side that has stuttered in front of goal this term.
But even with the former Luton Town and Barnsley striker back, the Rams struggled to create a meaningful chance before his knockdown header in the box allowed Sam Szmodics to slip a clever pass to Clark, who then slammed home from a tight angle in the 40th minute.
Birmingham had squandered a number of chances to take the lead themselves, with August Priske glancing an early header over and Vicente wastefully curling an effort wide, while Jay Stansfield had a goalbound effort blocked by Sondre Langas and Tomoki Iwata flashed a first-time effort just off target.
Vicente, however, was clinical when he beat Rams left-back Charlie Taylor to a searching Millar cross at the back post to nod Blues level just two minutes after going behind.
The injury to Meister, who had been lively on what was his first start at home since joing the Rams on loan from Italian side Pisa, was a blow that Derby were intent on quickly bouncing back from with Mohammed Fuseini forcing Beadle to make a save at full stetch before Eiran Cashin directed a close-range attempt just wide.
At the other end, Derby goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom argued he had been fouled when he failed to judge the flight a Millar corner which allowed Paik to nod in from point-blank range.
Zetterstrom went on to deny Vicente and Stansfield in quick succession to ensure the Rams remained in the game, which Vazquez’s horrendous miss also helped with as Derby piled forward in search of a late equaliser – which Birmingham’s Christoph Klarer denied them by blocking a Szmodics shot on the line in stoppage time.