Derby County 1-0 Queens Park Rangers

Summer signing Andreas Weimann now has two goals in two games, having scored in Saturday's 3-0 win over Rotherham

Andreas Weimann's second-half strike earned Derby County an eighth win in 10 matches and increased the pressure on QPR manager Chris Ramsey.

The Rams seized control after a dull first half and took the lead when Weimann calmly curled a shot beyond Rob Green after fine work by Richard Keogh.

Derby continued to dominate against a side who barely threatened despite Charlie Austin's return from injury.

And QPR's wretched night was sealed when James Perch was sent off late on.

The defender saw red for a second caution in the 90th minute after charging into Chris Martin, just when his side threatened to salvage a point from an abject display.

Aside from the brief late flurry, Rangers never looked like avoiding a third consecutive 1-0 defeat which sees them drop to 13th in the table.

Rangers did manage a couple of off-target efforts from Matt Phillips and Daniel Tozser before the break, but Derby striker Martin had the best opportunity of an opening 45 minutes lacking in both quality and goalmouth incident.

The Rams' top scorer could easily have added to his eight league goals this season, but his header from Johnny Russell's cross skidded wide.

Derby upped the urgency immediately after the restart and five minutes of intense pressure ended with them going ahead.

Soon after Jacob Butterfield hit the inside of the post following Richard Keogh's fine lay-off, Weimann was on hand to find the corner of the net.

The hosts continued to dominate, with Bradley Johnson and Jeff Hendrick going close, but the second goal was not needed and, after Perch's dismissal, Derby saw out six minutes of stoppage time to move to within a point of new Championship leaders Hull.

Derby head coach Paul Clement:

"The team spirit, the cohesiveness, and the understanding of the tactics are growing all the time and the players are showing so many different qualities.

"They can grind out difficult games, won't get bullied by any team, can play good football, and can defend and keep clean sheets.

"It's good and we've got to keep it going and that's the test in this league. That's four home games on the bounce that we've won and we're confident we can go to any ground and win because our record shows that.

"Craig Forsyth's injured his knee and it could be a bad one. We won't know until it's been scanned but it could be serious."

QPR head coach Chris Ramsey:

"I would say you are always going to be under pressure as a manager when you are not winning.

"The fans would want us to be winning week in, week out but it has to be said we've changed direction from what we decided at the start of the season and so the expectations are a little bit higher than initially expected.

"I thought we deserved more tonight, we were more than an equal match for them.

"At this moment we are having a hard time but we've got to keep believing in what we are doing, we've shown we can perform as well as the top teams."

Chris Ramsey's QPR side have lost their last two games by a 1-0 margin