Connor Sammon saved the day for Derby against a 10-man Middlesbrough with a late winner, as Derby made it four wins on the trot while moving into fourth place in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Steve McClaren made one change from Saturday with a fit again Jamie Ward replacing Johnny Russell.
The Rams were slow out of the blocks but neither side were inspiring as the first half looked to head to the break all square.
Boro had gone down to 10 men on 33 minutes when Curtin Main received two first 45 yellow cards but Derby seemed unable to take advantage of their numerical advantage.
That was until Chris Martin got his goal tally into double figures when he gave the Rams a 1-0 cushion on the stroke of half time by turning in a quality Bryson cross.
HT: 1-0
Neither team came out with much more intent and the Rams inability to take things up a gear bit them on the rear when Dean Whitehead was on the end of a fast Boro break, when on 70 minutes he levelled the scores.
Boro tried for a winner but the Rams wrestled with their lethargy to try and provide the spark to take back the lead. Ward especially did his best to create something from nothing but it seemed the moment of magic required would not come.
That was until the hero to zero once again became a hero!
Conor Sammon brilliantly judged the bounce of the ball perfectly in the box to slot home past a devastated Shay Given.
FT: 2 - 1
This is truly a different Derby — winning when not too long ago losing would have been more likely.
On the day we said goodbye to Pride Park (in name alone) - 3 more points & up to 4th.
All is well in the world of DCFC.
Check back tomorrow on RamZone for ‘The Weston Report’, our exclusive report of each and every home game this season by our on the spot match expert (so he says!).
We Said - Derby Head Coach Steve McClaren :
"We didn’t play our best football tonight but we got the win and that’s the main thing. We needed that goal in the last ten minutes and the pleasing thing for me, as well as the win, is the fact the players didn’t get frustrated and lose their focus when it wasn’t going our way.”
"The players remained patient and when the opportunity came in the final minute we took it, unlike a few weeks ago when we drew against Birmingham City. I know the players aren’t too happy with the performance but tonight was all about the result.”
"There's different ways to win games and this isn't how we've done it in recent weeks, but we'll take it. In terms of our mentality it was so important we kept going and showed plenty of belief, and it was great to see Conor Sammon tuck his chance away.”
They Said — Boro Head Coach Aitor Karanka was not happy about the red card:
"The referee's wrong. But Curtis has to learn from this. He must know that when you have a yellow card, you must be calmer even though I think it was not a foul."
"That determination and fight is in the whole team as you can see by how well we did with 10 players in these away games. Curtis is young and will make mistakes so he must improve but I want to say his red card was not our team's mistake."
Possession: 67% / 33%
Corners: 12 / 1
Shots (On Target): 17 (6) / 8 (4)
Fouls: 10 / 13
Yellow Cards: 0 / 2
Attendance: 24,641 (546 visiting supporters).
Referee: Andrew Madley
Derby County: Grant (GK), Wisdom, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth, Eustace (Hendrick 45’), Hughes, Bryson (Sammon 79’), Dawkins (Russell 76’), Ward, Martin.
Subs not used: Legzdins (GK), Bennett, Cisse, Keane.
Goals: Chris Martin (45’), Conor Sammon (90’)
Middlesbrough: Given (GK), Friend (Ayala 90’), Williams, Butterfield (Carayol 45’), Whitehead, Gibson, Main, Adomah (Varga 82’), Kamara, Smallwood, Woodgate.
Subs not used: Konstantopolous (GK), Richardson, Emnes, Ledsema.
Goals:Dean Whitehead (74’)
Derby vs. Blackpool
12:15pm - iPro Stadium
Saturday 7th December