Derby County were forced to withstand a late comeback to earn a 3-2 win against Crystal Palace at Pride Park this afternoon.
Derby opened the scoring on six minutes when a cross from the left deflected into the path of Steven Davies, who slotted home calmly to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.
Another effort on goal came from Theo Robinson on 22 minutes. On the edge of the area, the striker hit a volley on the turn which had Julian Speroni well beaten, but hit the bar and bounced clear.
Derby doubled their lead on 29 minutes after Tom Naylor delivered a looping cross that Speroni struggled to deal with. The ball fell to Jeff Hendrick in the 18-yard box and the midfielder finished well into the bottom corner.
On 49 minutes, Derby were awarded a penalty after Patrick McCarthy handled the ball in his own area. Robinson stepped up and coolly converted, sending Speroni the wrong way.
The home side continued to enjoy the majority of the play in the second half, with Palace struggling to impose themselves.
Chris Martin managed to grab a goal back for Palace on 80 minutes after a quick free kick caught Derby off-guard.
In the 90th minute, Palace hit a second goal through Darren Ambrose. The midfielder was given plenty of space and curled a shot past Frank Fielding from the edge of the area to make it 3-2 and give the away side a chance in injury time.
However, Derby managed to see out the game and claimed all three points, despite a strong finish from Palace.
Sam Hughes
