Teenage striker Daniel Sturridge marked his first Premier League start for Manchester City with the goal that earned a 1-1 draw at Derby on Wednesday.

Sturridge underlined his reputation as one of City's brightest young stars when he steered in a second half equaliser that cancelled out Sun Jihai's own goal. The 18-year-old's fine finish rescued City manager Sven Goran Eriksson from a second successive embarrassing defeat after their FA Cup exit at Sheffield United.

Derby kicked-off 13 points adrift of safety after a woeful 17-match winless run in the league and, although Paul Jewell's side ended a run of five successive defeats, they remain rooted to the bottom of the table. Their season had hit a new low when Preston dumped them out of the FA Cup on Saturday but they fared a little better in front of the club's new American owners.

Both managers made four changes to the teams that crashed out of the Cup, with Eriksson's decision to drop Elano to the bench the major surprise.

City were presented with a glorious chance to take an eary lead when Claude Davis's under-hit backpass sent Darius Vassell clean through, but the City striker pulled his effort wide of the right post.

The hosts escaped again soon after as Vedran Corluka met Martin Petrov's corner with a header that flashed narrowly over the crossbar.

Jewell's side gradually worked their way into the game and Robert Earnshaw went close twice in quick succession. The Wales striker scored his first goal of the season on Saturday and he gave City a warning of his threat with a bicycle kick that went over.

Earnshaw was even closer moments later when he turned cleverly and drove his shot against a post.

Pressure pays
While Derby's attackers were beginning to find their rhythm, the Rams still looked less than convincing at the back. Davis had to make a last-ditch tackle to block Stephen Ireland's shot after the Jamaican made a hash of clearing Petrov's cross.

Derby got the goal their spirit deserved only 22 seconds after half-time thanks to a large slice of luck. Hossam Ghaly worked space to slip a pass to Kenny Miller on the edge of the City area. The Scotland forward's low shot was going wide until it took a deflection off Sun, wrong-footing Joe Hart as it raced into the opposite corner.

Eriksson responded by sending on Elano and City immediately raised their game, equalising in the 63rd minute. Sturridge is the most promising product of City's youth academy and he showed his potential with his second goal in only his second appearance this season.

Petrov delivered a pinpoint cross and Sturridge got ahead of the defence to produce in a cool finish.