First-half goals from Craig Bryson, Tom Ince and former Blue Darren Bent saw Derby to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Town in front of Portman Road’s lowest league crowd for more than 17 years. Bryson and Ince netted on nine and 12 to set the Rams on their way and Bent added the third just before the break and the Blues never looked like getting back into the game.
Skipper Luke Chambers, who is staying with Town despite interest from his former club Nottingham Forest, started for the Blues with manager Mick McCarthy making three changes from the team which drew 1-1 at Preston on Saturday.
Paul Digby, Jordan Spence and Kevin Bru came into the side for Josh Emmanuel and Grant Ward, who dropped to the bench, and Toumani Diagouraga, who missed out.
The Blues started in a 3-5-2 system with Chambers in the centre of the defence between Christophe Berra and Paul Digby. Jordan Spence and Jonas Knudsen were the wing-backs.
In central midfield Cole Skuse was partnered by Kevin Bru with Tom Lawrence ahead of them and Freddie Sears and Brett Pitman up front.
Derby were without Blues nemesis David Nugent (knee), midfielder Will Hughes (hamstring) and winger Jonny Russell (knee). Ex-Blues striker Bent started.
After a scruffy start, Derby won a series of corners which eventually led to their opening goal in the ninth minute.
Chambers headed a flag-kick from the right clear, the ball was played back into the right of the box to Ince, who took it down and laid it to Bryson on the edge of the box, from where he struck a low shot past Bartosz Bialkowski to his right.
Within three minutes it was 2-0. Ince brought the ball in from the right unchallenged and smashed a left-footed shot across Bialkowski and into the net, a goal reminiscent of Lawrence’s at Preston on Saturday but from the other flank.
Town switched to a four-man backline as they looked to get back into the game with Digby moving into five-man midfield with Lawrence on the left and Sears the right and Pitman up front on his own.
The Blues threatened for the first time in the 21st minute when Lawrence tricked his way past a couple of defenders on the edge of the box then hit a shot which was too close to Derby keeper Scott Carson.
Town toiled as they sought to get back in the game but Derby created the next opportunity, Abdoul Camara cut the ball back to Ince, whose low shot was too close to Bialkowski.
The Blues were making little headway with Derby happy to sit back and let Town play the ball around unthreateningly at the back. With nine minutes of the half remaining McCarthy switched Digby for David McGoldrick.
On 41 Lawrence made a run towards goal towards the right and hit a shot which was blocked. The loose ball fell to Bru, but his low cross into the area was cut out.
Two minutes later, Bru sent Sears away on the right and the ex-West Ham man won the first of three corners. From the third, Chambers headed into the ground and Carson pawed the ball away from Berra at the far post.
Moments later, Lawrence, Town’s only first-half danger man, turned his ankle as he cut inside a defender and required treatment.
In injury time Ince sent a dangerous ball across the Blues six-yard box, which Chambers turned behind.
And in the aftermath of the resultant corner, the Rams made it 3-0. The ball was cleared to Bryson just outside the area from where he struck a powerful shot which Bialkowski superbly tipped onto the bar.
However, the ball was sent back in from the right and an unmarked Bent nodded into the net from close range with several Town players claiming that the former England striker - who didn’t celebrate against his old club - had fouled Knudsen as the ball came over but to no avail.
Soon after referee Andrew Madley’s whistle ended the half and started a chorus of boos which followed manager McCarthy off the pitch and down the tunnel.
Derby had hardly been made to work for their three goals, the two early strikes having set the half up for them perfectly.
Having got comfortably in front the Rams were happy to sit back and let Town try to find a way through them, which the Blues were wholly incapable of managing with only Lawrence showing any threat at all.
The third goal was just as poor as the other two from a Town perspective and made the already very difficult task of getting back into the game all but impossible.
Lawrence was replaced by Ward at the start of the second half, the Wales international having succumbed to the injury he suffered at the end of the first period.
The Blues were first to threaten after the restart, Sears hitting a 47th minute shot from the left of the box which deflected over. Two minutes later, Ince hit a low effort through to Bialkowski from the edge of the box.
On 50 Knudsen crossed from the left and found McGoldrick at the far post but the Irish international’s strike was hit straight at a defender.
Derby should have gone four in front in the 53rd minute when Bent cut the ball back to Ince who shot against the outside of Bialkowski’s right post from eight yards with the goal gaping following a swift counter-attack.
The Rams continued to look the more likely scorers with Bialkowski saving well from Bent as the game moved towards the hour mark.
After Ward had sent over a dangerous low ball from the right which Carson cleared with his boot, Kieffer Moore replaced Pitman in the Town attack.
The 6ft 6in striker immediately got involved, hurling himself towards a Bru cross from the right but a defender got to the ball ahead of him. Soon after, Ince curled a freekick over at the other end, then ex-Blue Bent was applauded off by his old fans as he was replaced by Matej Vydra.
Derby continued to look the more likely next scorers, Bialkowski saving from Bryson on 69, then making an even more impressive stop from Jacob Butterfield, the Pole somehow clawing the ball away from his line after the former Barnsley man had hit a low shot to his right having been found on the left of the box by Ince’s clever pass.
On 75 Bru won a freekick 25 yards out which McGoldrick got over the wall but too close to Carson.
Town kept at it and as the game moved into its final five minutes Ward claimed a penalty after he looked to have been caught as he took the ball inside a defender on the edge of the area after good work from McGoldrick. Referee Madley was again unmoved.
Moments later, Moore saw a shot deflect wide, then from the corner the big striker headed back across the area but Marcus Olsson cleared.
Boos greeted the final whistle but many of the 14,719, Town’s lowest home league attendance since December 1999 when 14,712 watched the 3-1 defeat of nine-man West Brom, had already made their way home after another thoroughly disappointing Portman Road display by the Blues.
The game was all but over after the two early Derby goals with the third sealing it before half-time.
After the break the Blues toil with little success and but for some poor finishing and another impressive display from Bialkowski in goal the Rams would have increased their margin of victory.
The result sees Town drop to 17th but still 10 points off the relegation zone but with Wigan and Blackburn in 22nd and 23rd having two games in hand over the Blues.
Town: Bialkowski, Spence, Digby (McGoldrick 36), Chambers (c), Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Bru, Lawrence (Ward 46), Sears, Pitman (Moore 66). Unused: Gerken, Douglas, Dozzell, Emmanuel.
Derby: Carson, Baird (Christie 80), Keogh (c), Pearce, Olsson, Johnson, Bryson, Butterfield, Ince, Camara (Anya 56), Bent (Vydra 69). Unused: Mitchell, Shackell, de Sart, Blackman. Referee: Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire). Att: 14,719 (Derby: 464).