Ipswich Town 1-2 Derby County
- Published
Sam Winnall's last five goals for Derby have all come away from home
Sam Winnall's two fine goals helped an impressive Derby County move up to second place in the Championship.
The on-loan Sheffield Wednesday forward headed the Rams in front early on and added a stunning 25-yard shot into the top corner soon after the break.
Tom Lawrence had a long-range effort to make it 3-0 that went over the bar.
The Rams had a host of chances to add to their lead before Joe Garner pulled one back for Town as he headed home a Martyn Waghorn corner.
Derby, who have now won seven of their last nine matches, will stay in the promotion places unless Bristol City can beat runaway Championship leaders Wolves in Saturday's 17:30 GMT game at Ashton Gate.
Gary Rowett's Rams were impressive in the first half as Matej Vydra had two excellent chances and Bartosz Bialkowski saved well from Winnall, while Town had a Callum Connolly effort cleared off the line.
It was a similar story in the second half as the Rams showed their promotion credentials before Garner's goal.
It was the first time County had conceded in five games - Ipswich's 1-0 win at Pride Park on 28 November the last time Derby's goal was breached.
Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy:
"We were beaten by a better team, a considerably better team on the day.
"They have been very expensively assembled prior to Gary getting there and he is now getting the best out of them.
"He is a good manager as he proved at Birmingham and they were too much for us in the first half and they could have been out of sight."
Derby manager Gary Rowett:
"It's a difficult place to come and they put you under a lot of pressure with the way that they play.
"They have got a real energetic side and I felt first half we blew them away with some really good attacking play.
"Our front four were unplayable at times and in my opinion we really should have been out of sight."