Derby County defeated Birmingham City 3-1 at Pride Park to end Garry Monk’s side’s 11-match unbeaten run.
Lukas Jutkiewicz put the visitors ahead before second-half goals from Mason Bennett, Harry Wilson and Jack Marriott clinched all three points for the hosts.
Derby have moved up to fourth place whilst Birmingham dropped down to tenth.
Here is how we rated the players from both sides as Derby earned their second home win over the Blues in their past six meetings in the East Midlands.
Derby County:
Scott Carson – The Rams’ goalkeeper wasn’t called into action too much but he did what was needed of him. Couldn’t have done much about the goal. 6
Jayden Bogle – Was fairly anonymous, did what he needed to do and linked up nicely with Mason Bennett. 6
Curtis Davies – Solid, just like his defensive partner. Didn’t do much wrong. 7
Richard Keogh – Solid throughout. Should have scored when the ball fell to him from a few yards out but he put the ball over the bar. 7
Craig Forsyth – Looked fairly shaky at the start of the game as a lot of Birmingham attacks came down that left flank but grew confidence throughout the game, as well as getting two assists. 8
Tom Huddlestone – Was a standard performance from the holding midfielder. Too many stray passes which stopped Derby mounting pressure in the first half. 6
Duane Holmes – Very good first start for the American. Looked lively and always looking to create. 8
Tom Lawrence – Went missing for large parts of the game however when he was involved, he did look quite dangerous. 5
Harry Wilson – Was unlucky not to get more than one goal. Hit the post and forced Camp into several saves, as well as hitting the post. 8
Martyn Waghorn – Left the field injured too soon to make an impact. N/A
Jack Marriott – Took his goal very well, could have got more if it weren’t for Camp. Tried to get in behind with some good runs but wasn’t spotted enough times. 7
Substitutes:
Mason Bennett – Created several chances and was in the right time and place to tap home his goal. Influenced the game, alongside Wilson and Holmes, when Derby were starting to build pressure. 8
Florian Jozefzoon – NA
Bradley Johnson – N/A
Birmingham City:
Lee Camp – Despite conceding three goals, the goalkeeper was one of Birmingham’s best players. If it wasn’t for the former Derby and Forest ‘keeper it would have been an embarrassing score-line. 8
Maxime Colin – Linked up well with Jota down the right, especially in the first half. Handled Lawrence pretty well too. 6
Michael Morrison – Booked in the second half, wasn’t quite at the races. 5
Harlee Dean – Let Marriott slip past him for the third goal, was okay throughout, however. 6
Kristian Pedersen – Didn’t contribute too much going forward and struggled to handle Bennett. 5
Jota – Was very good in the first half especially. A lot of Birmingham’s attacks coming through the Spaniard and of course, he got an assist. 7
Maikel Kieftenbeld – Got stuck in, especially in the first half. The Birmingham midfield was a bit transparent during the second 45 however. 6
Gary Gardner – Was a shadow of himself of former weeks. Almost had the chance to score and was brought off in the second half. Poor. 4
Conor Mahoney – Delivered a couple of decent crosses and tested Carson with a rasping volley towards the end of the first half. 6
Che Adams – Tried hard but unfortunately for him it just didn’t quite come off for him. 6
Lukas Jutkiewicz – Like his strike partner he worked hard and took his goal well. Takes him up to eight in six games. 7
Substitutes:
Wes Harding – Made a couple of good tackles but didn’t really get into the game when he came on. 5
By Tom Pearce at Pride Park
