Barnsley 0-3 Derby County
- Published
Matej Vydra's goal was his 13th of the season for Derby County
Derby County continued their impressive away form as Barnsley suffered a fifth successive Championship defeat.
Early chances were few and far between before Mamadou Thiam and Harvey Barnes tested Derby keeper Scott Carson.
But the Rams went in front when Tom Lawrence pounced on a loose ball and leading scorer Matej Vydra added the second from Chris Baird's cut-back.
Barnsley's Brad Potts hit the crossbar after the break, but Andi Weimann sealed the win with a powerful shot.
The victory lifted Derby up two places to fourth in the table, while Paul Heckingbottom's side slipped to 20th after losing five in a row at Championship level for the first time since 2009.
Lively winger Barnes was their main first-half threat on his 20th birthday, forcing Carson to a fingertip save with a curling effort and then firing narrowly wide.
But two goals in the space of five minutes just before the break put Derby in firm control, and on course for a fourth win in their seven-match unbeaten run away from home, although they lost Lawrence at the interval with a foot injury.
Carson made an instinctive point-blank save from sub Ike Ugbo after a good move involving George Moncur and Barnes, but any hopes of a Barnsley recovery were snuffed out when Weimann fired home from outside the box.
Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom told BBC Radio Sheffield:
"It's tough to take. I sound like broken record now because it's the same old story. They had three shots on target and won 3-0 and we were wasteful.
"Our first lapse of concentration saw us 1-0 down and I thought we'd been the better side before that and then the next bit of quality from them it was 2-0.
"I thought the energy was there between both boxes but it's not about stats it's about winning the game."
Derby manager Gary Rowett:
"It's a difficult place to come, they are an energetic side. I'm really pleased about the way we went about it. There was some really good attacking play.
"As soon as we made two or three passes it opened up a bit. I thought we had to work hard to get into the lead.
"We've had a little bit of criticism at times for not playing as fluidly as we want. There were some real moments of quality."