So Derby County have gone down, but becoming the first club in the 16-year history of the Premier League to be relegated in March should not deter the next round of dreamers.

Paul Jewell, whose team’s return to the Coca-Cola Championship was confirmed with this result, took time out on Saturday to urge Bristol City and Hull City to believe that unfashionable climbers can prosper in the top flight – and, having lived the dream with Bradford City and Wigan Athletic, he intends to follow the same path this time 12 months hence.

“Why quell the dream?” Jewell said. “I was a part of a dream like that at Wigan and everyone laughed at the thought of us getting in the Premiership. They said, ‘Go back where you belong.’ We ended up finishing tenth and reaching a cup final [the 2006 Carling Cup]. So it can be done. But it takes good coaching, good planning, good players, good recruitment and a little bit of luck. If you get those things, it can be done.

“Football is all ‘Premier League, Premier League’, but I look at Hull and Bristol City. People look down their noses at them, but those players are top of their league. Don’t kill the dream. Getting beaten every week is a horrible place to be, but what I’d say to the players is: ‘You’re there because you deserve it – not because you’re a big name, but because you’ve worked your socks off to get there.’ ” It is a refreshing take on a weary tale. Jewell was energised both by the relief that Derby can put the negatives to bed and concentrate on a promotion bid and by the improvement in his team that will benefit from significant investment in the close season.

Mis-hits from Dean Leacock allowed Derby initially to take the lead, when Emanuel Villa nudged his teammate’s wayward shot home early on, and Fulham to reclaim it late on when Hameur Bouazza’s shot went in off the hapless defender. In between, Fulham showed why they appear set to join Derby on the way down by leaving swaths of space between their defence and midfield. And when they did gain some control, after Diomansy Kamara headed in a cross by Simon Davies and, in the second half, ran clear in the build-up to Leacock’s own goal, they let it slip immediately.

Mile Sterjovski and Villa, two of Jewell’s January signings, combined for the Argentinian to head in the equaliser that leaves Fulham six points adrift of the safety mark. “I’m not prepared to concede this was a game we should have won at a canter because I don’t regard Derby as a bad team,” Roy Hodgson, the Fulham manager, said. “From the spirit I’ve seen today, I still believe we can survive.”

Derby County (4-4-2): R Carroll 7 – A Todd 4 (sub: T Mears, 88min), D Moore 7, D Leacock 5, E Lewis 6 – M Sterjovski 6, H Ghaly 6, R Savage 4, D Jones 6 – K Miller 5 (sub: R Earnshaw, 35 5), E Villa 6.
Substitutes not used: L Price, B Feilhaber, J Beardsley.
Booked: Todd, Villa, Jones.
Next: Everton (a).

Fulham (4-4-2): K Keller 4 – P Stalteri 5, A Hughes 5, B Hangeland 4, P Konchesky 4 – S Davies 6, L Andreasen 4, J Bullard 6 (sub: D Murphy, 80), H Bouazza 6 (sub: E Johnson, 80) – B McBride 5, D Kamara 5.
Substitutes not used: A Warner, C Bocanegra, C Dempsey.
Booked: Bouazza, Andreasen, Konchesky, Kamara.
Next: Sunderland (h).

Referee M Dean
Attendance 33,034