Derby County 3-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

David Nugent opened the scoring with his sixth goal for Derby

Derby County ended a run of three games without a win with a comfortable victory over 10-man Wolves.

David Nugent opened the scoring with a header from Tom Ince's cross before Bradley Johnson smashed in a second.

Wolves winger Ivan Cavaleiro was sent off for an off-the-ball incident, but Ben Marshall fired into the roof of the net to make it 2-1 at half-time.

But Craig Bryson put in Jonny Russell's cut-back to secure the points and move Gary Rowett's side up to ninth place.

Derby had gone three weeks without a win, but started the brighter side and took the lead after 12 minutes when Nugent planted a header beyond goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne.

Johnson doubled the Rams' lead midway through the second half when he ran onto Russell's whipped cross and found the net with a powerful finish.

Russell nearly got on the score sheet himself when a loose ball fell to him from a corner, but his attempt was cleared off the line.

Wolves' task was then made much harder when Cavaleiro was shown a straight red card by referee Chris Kavanagh.

Marshall beat Scott Carson from Nouha Dicko's pass to give them hope on the stroke of half-time, but Bryson benefitted from another Russell run and cross to put the game beyond the away side, who stay 15th after a third game without a win.

Derby manager Gary Rowett:

"The attitude was excellent and we had lots of chances and there were a lot of good performances out there.

"I thought we hunted the ball down really well, I've been critical of us out of possession and I thought we were much better today.

"But we need to stop giving stupid goals away, that was the disappointment before half-time.

"I think if you have control of the football you should be looking to penetrate the opposition, whether that's a pass, or a run. I'm not a big fan of keeping possession for possession's sake."

Wolves manager Paul Lambert:

"We get it back to 2-1 and we are in the game but it's dead difficult when you are down to 10 men but credit to the team, we never capitulated, but the first two goals were really poor and then the sending off makes it even harder."

On Ivan Cavaleiro's red card: "I can't defend it, he's a young lad who has just moved to this country and he's a talented footballer but I can't sit here and defend it.

"I've seen it for myself and as soon as you do that you know the consequences."