DERBY, England (AFP) - A double from Emmanuel Villa was not enough to save Derby County's desperate Premiership season as their 2-2 draw with fellow strugglers Fulham saw them relegated on Saturday with six matches still to go.

Birmingham's 3-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday put the Rams and their fans out of their misery.

Diomansy Kamara had a hand in both of Fulham's goals scoring their first and then seeing his shot deflect off Derby player Dean Leacock and into the net.

Derby had drawn first blood in the 10th minute when Villa drilled home a shot from inside the penalty area after being set up by Dean Leacock.

The Premiership tailenders twice went close to extending their lead as first former Wales international Robbie Savage forced American keeper Kasey Keller into a save and David Jones put in a fine curling effort in the 22nd minute from long range only for Keller once again to prove equal to the task.

However the wind was taken out of their sails a minute later as Kamara levelled for the visitors heading home Simon Davies' cross.

The rest of the half was a stalemate but Fulham came out in bullish form for the second period and went close to taking the lead in the 56th minute as Jimmy Bullard's freekick beat Roy Carroll but rattled the bar.

That appeared to wake up Derby as two minutes later Mile Sterjovski fired in a fierce long range shot which forced Keller into a sharp save, as he turned it round the post.

Bullard was far and away the liveliest player for Fulham and it was no surprise that he forced Carroll into another save shortly afterwards and then the visitors had Keller to thank for saving from Welsh international striker Robert Earnshaw in the 74th minute.

However, Derby were undone by a cruel blow with 12 minutes remaining as Kamara's shot took a serious deflection Leacock giving Carroll no chance to save it.

Derby, though, showed more fight than they have all season and were back on terms a minute later as Villa doubled his tally for the match after good work by Sterjovski.