Derby County 3-0 Millwall
- Published
David Nugent's double means he has scored six goals in 15 Championship starts this season
Derby County scored three goals in five minutes as they beat Millwall to move up to third in the Championship with a sixth win from seven matches.
The Lions, who have now failed to win any of their 12 away league games this term, started well with Neil Gregory having an effort cleared off the line.
But Nugent flicked in the opener from Chris Baird's cross and Matej Vydra's cracking 25-yard shot made it 2-0.
Nugent fired in the third before the break from Bradley Johnson's pass.
Millwall provided early hope of ending their miserable away run in the Championship, which had seen them fail to find the net in eight of their 11 previous fixtures.
Soon after Rams defender Curtis Davies had denied Gregory, Aiden O'Brien blasted a shot over the bar.
But the hosts then settled and Vydra went close before Nugent's first goal.
Vydra's 14th goal of the season doubled the advantage within two minutes and former England striker Nugent's sixth of the campaign completed a stunning three-goal burst to as good as seal victory by the break.
Millwall had the better chances in the second half, with Scott Carson making three superb saves - most notably from Gregory's close-range strike - but the Rams preserved their clean sheet.
Derby County boss Gary Rowett:
"I'm really pleased with a clean sheet but we probably didn't deserve one. Millwall deserved a goal but we could have scored a couple more and some of our attacking play was excellent.
"I know it sounds a bit cliched but I'm not really bothered about the other results, bothered where we are in the league or how many points we've got.
"Once you start doing that, you then start making decisions and judgements based on other people and it's about what we do. If we maintain what we are doing we will finish in a very strong position.
"The point is, we've got to keep trying to be better and the players are doing that. They are buying into what we are trying to do and everyone is working incredibly hard."
Millwall manager Neil Harris:
"We've had a lot of big moments on the road this year where we've not taken our opportunities at key moments and been punished.
"We made three or four errors and conceded three goals, we had numerous clear-cut chances and have not taken them and that's the realism of where we are.
"I said to the players that anyone who was getting a little bit ahead of themselves after seven points in three games, that's a reality check, so we'll take it on the chin and move on."