Derby County have succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of fellow high-flyers Middlesbrough in this evening's Championship clash at the iPro Stadium.
The crowd had to wait until the quarter-hour mark for the first half-chance of the match as Cyrus Christie swung in a cross from the right, but Jamie Ward couldn't make contact.
Boro countered moments later down the right wing, with Albert Adomah finding space to lash an effort towards the Rams goal that Lee Grant palmed away.
Jamie Hanson then lined up a speculative free kick from distance on the half-hour mark, but the Derby youngster struck wide.
The action ended with both sides trading efforts, as a ball over the top of the Boro defence had to be cleared before Tom Ince got to it.
Meanwhile, Jelle Vossen struck the Rams post after spotting the opposition keeper off his line and lashing an audacious shot from long range five minutes before the break.
Derby found themselves under the cosh after the restart as a Vossen break was stubbed out by Grant, while Patrick Bamford fired wide from an Adomah cross just after the hour.
Aitor Karanka's charges then took the lead in the 64th minute courtesy of the prolific Chelsea loanee, who collected Lee Tomlin's cutback before rounding the goalkeeper and slotting in from a tight angle.
The Rams continued to come under siege as Vossen, unchallenged in the hosts' box, got his foot to an inswinging corner, but he fired wide.
Despite being second best throughout most of the game, the hosts had a great chance to level late on when a delivery into the box rebounded to Jesse Lingard, but the on-loan Manchester United man dragged his effort wide.
The result means that Derby slip further back in the automatic promotion race, sitting fifth in the table, while Boro continue to go from strength to strength, level on points with leaders Watford in the top two.
Giuseppe Labellarte
