Derby County have extended their unbeaten run to nine games and moved up to second in the Championship table after beating Reading 0-3 this afternoon.
Simon Cox was given the game's first chance, but the Reading frontman could only head over from Hal Robson-Kanu's cross.
Royals captain Chris Gunter then had to be alert to make an acrobatic headed clearance from Jamie Ward's ball into the box.
Derby opened the scoring from the resulting corner, however, after Chris Martin headed home through the legs of Jordan Obita for his eighth goal of the season.
The hosts came close to an equaliser after Jake Taylor's shot was palmed out by Lee Grant straight to Robson-Kanu, but the midfielder couldn't adjust his feet in time and the chance went begging.
Glenn Murray flicked against the crossbar for Reading but Jordan Ibe eventually extended Derby's advantage after firing into the top corner.
The Rams really should have gone three up after Martin spurned a number of good chances minutes after the restart, but Reading held firm to stay in the game.
The home side finally started to threaten towards the end of the contest, with Pavel Pogrebnyak wasting a fantastic chance when it looked easier to score, but Derby put the game beyond doubt when Martin clipped over Adam Federici to give his side all three points.
Benjamin Topliss
