Derby 3-0 County Nottingham Forest: Rams move into Championship play-off places

Derby County beat rivals Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the iPro Stadium on Sunday lunch time to move into the Championship play-off places.

Steve McClaren's side lead 1-0 at the break thanks to an own goal from Forest striker Nicklas Bendtner, before doubling their advantage after a brilliant solo effort by Tom Ince 10 minutes into the second half.

The Rams sealed their victory when midfielder Will Hughes scored just past the hour-mark with his first goal since January 2014 as they climbed to fifth in the table, while Forest fell to 16th.

Derby were handed a huge pre-match boost with the news that key striker Darren Bent had recovered from the hamstring injury that forced him to miss last week's win over Wigan Athletic.

The visitors, meanwhile, werewithout forward Britt Assombalonga, who had not recovered in time from a hamstring injury and they then suffered a further blow when captain Henri Lansbury tweaked his hamstring in the warm-up.

Both teams went into the game in great form, with Derby having won their last five Championship games, while Forest were on a run of three straight league wins.

However, in a scrappy first half, it was the hosts who looked the more assured, driven on by a raucous home support, although they needed a large dose of good fortune to break the deadlock after 33 minutes.

From a right-wing corner fizzed in to the near post by Ince, captain Richard Keogh flicked the ball on, only for Bendtner to inadvertently head it past his own goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic.

In fact, the last time the Denmark striker had scored an own goal was eight years ago when playing for Arsenal in a League Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, and he came close to repeating the trick early in the second period, only for his header to this time hit the woodwork.

Other than that, the only moments of interest before the break were an early confrontation near the left-hand touchline involving initially just Bradley Johnson and Ben Osborn, before suddenly then descending into a melee involving almost every player on the pitch.

And a smart save by Scott Carson moments before the interval to keep out Matty Cash's low drive from just inside the box, the visitors' first and only shot on goal in the first half.

But any hopes Forest may have had of getting themselves back into the contest after the break were soon ended by two goals inside the opening 20 minutes of the second half.

The Rams' crucial second goal was a memorable effort that began with right-back Chris Baird's inch-perfect pass to Ince, charging down the wing, and the winger then cut back inside and beat two Forest defenders, before toe-poking high into the net past a helpless Stojkovic.

The game was then over as a contest when Hughes added a third after 64 minutes following another flowing move involving man-of-the-match Ince, who picked out Johnny Russell's run in the box.

And despite Stojkovic doing well to keep out the Scotland international's low effort, the blond-haired Hughes was there in the right place to thrash the ball home into the empty net and send the home fans into a state of delirium.

As a result, Derby, who were 21st when McClaren returned to the club, have now won seven of their last nine matches, including six in a row, while Forest are only five points from the relegation zone after this demoralising loss.