Graham lifts Rovers out of relegation zone

Substitute Danny Graham's 73rd minute winner lifts Blackburn Rovers out of the relegation zone and puts Derby County into the drop zone.

Derby applied a lot of the first half pressure with Ikechi Anya proving to be a handful for Blackburn's defence. Some good trickery by him got Blackburn skipper Jason Lowe booked for a late foul on him.

Blackburn missed a penalty in the first half after a foul on Marvin Emnes. The striker got on the end of a nice chip from Ben Marshall, Derby captain Richard Keogh bought the Dutch striker down in the box.

Marshall stepped up to the penalty, his effort cannoned off the post straight back to him. Despite keeper Scott Carson being left stranded, Marshall somehow put his second effort wide, a chance he definitely should have put away.

Derby took the lead after 69 minutes through Matej Vydra. A good pass from Anya put Vydra through on goal; his first time effort from 12 yards out got the Rams' their first goal at the iPro Stadium in the league this season.

The hosts’ lead lasted a matter of seconds as Emnes' continued his great run of form for Rovers getting his third league goal in his last three games. There was some great build up play by the visitors before Emnes' shot deflected into the bottom left corner.

The in-form Dutch striker then turned provider three minutes later, an inspirational Blackburn move got the ball to Emnes, he turned and slipped the ball through the Derby defence to substitute Graham who comfortably slotted away his chance from close range which effectively sealed three points for Blackburn and their second consecutive league win.

In his post-match press conference, Blackburn manager Own Coyle claimed that “We showed again that we are capable at coming from behind but we don’t want to be doing it every week”.

It was not as positive an afternoon for Derby County; their fourth consecutive home defeat  in all competitions leaves them 22^nd in the Championship having not won a league game since mid-August. 

Derby manager Nigel Pearson is now becoming under some serious pressure after picking up just six points in his first nine league games in charge of Derby.

After the game, Pearson claimed that “Bottom three is where we deserve to be so far this season” and that “We are a squad experiencing different types of problems”.