An own goal from Scott Malone and a header from Chris Martin earned Derby County a comfortable 2-0 win away at Cardiff City in the Championship this afternoon.
The victory sees Steve McLaren's men sitting back in second position in the league standings as they seek to gain automatic promotion into the Premier League come the end of the season.
County had the chance to take the lead after nine minutes when City man Matthew Connolly brought down Martin in the box, but the forward was unable to convert the spot-kick as Simon Moore made a standout save down low.
The away side did eventually take the lead in the 23rd minute and it came in a rather suspect manner, as Malone somehow managed to divert the ball into his own net while trying to prevent a cross.
Cardiff looked a little frustrated in the first half as Alex Revell sought to test Lee Grant from range, but the keeper was not to be moved.
Derby doubled their lead right on the stroke of half time when Martin made up for his penalty miss with a smartly-guided header from Cyrus Christie's cross.
The away side sought to cement all three points in the second half when Mason Bennett was found by Will Hughes, only for Moore to come up with a full-length save down at his bottom-left corner.
Revell returned for City with a chance of his own and yet fluffed his lines with a tame effort straight at Grant from the centre of the County box which summed up a poor performance from the Welsh outfit.
Christopher Dodd
