George Thorne strike secures three points for Derby County

A second-half winner from George Thorne was enough for Derby County to beat Huddersfield Town 2-1 at the John Smith's Stadium this afternoon.

Thorne struck after Harry Bunn had cancelled out Chris Martin's opener for the Rams in an entertaining Championship clash.

Tom Ince's early strike was blocked by Sean Scannell before both men had to be replaced by Andres Weimann and Mustapha Carayol respectively.

Johnny Russell's early free kick struck the top of the wall, before he created the opener for his strike partner when his scuffed volley fell to Martin who prodded home for his fourth goal in four games.

The Terriers then levelled the game when Bunn was on hand to bundle the ball home after Ishmael Miller's strike had hit both the post and the bar.

Mark Hudson's well-timed tackle on Andreas Weimann just as the former Aston Villa striker was ready to shoot and Jed Steer's reflex save from Jason Shackell's close-range header kept the scores level at the break.

However, Steer was powerless to keep out Derby winner which came from a Thorne half-volley after the home side had failed to deal with a corner.

Chris Powell's side then felt they should have had a penalty when both Joel Lynch and Hudson went down in the box at a corner, but the referee waved away their appeals.

Nahki Wells dragged a shot wide from Bunn's pass as Huddersfield searched for a way back into the game, but the visitors held on for all three points.