Derby County 1-0 Bristol City: Rooney's Rams see off Robins

Derby top scorer Colin Kazim-Richards notched his second in as many games - but his first home goal since 16 December

Derby County claimed their third straight 1-0 Championship win as they beat Bristol City to climb five points clear of danger.

Rams top scorer Colin Kazim-Richards struck the only goal of the game after just four minutes for Wayne Rooney's men.

He arrived at the far post to side-foot home Lee Buchanan's superb left-wing cross into the roof of the net and register his fifth goal of the season.

Max Bird had a chance to double their lead but struck a post from the edge of the box in the 15th minute.

Alfie Mawson, who had a header saved before the break, City's only on-target effort, also missed a late chance, as did Famara Diedhiou, but the Robins created few worthwhile openings.

Although the Rams failed to find the cushion of a second goal, it still proved enough to secure the points, while just a second defeat in six games for Dean Holden's visitors drops them to ninth, three points off the play-off places.

Bristol City boss Dean Holden became the third successive Championship boss to be beaten 1-0 by Wayne Rooney's Rams

Rooney's Rams rise to 18th - 14 points adrift of the play-off places - after their seventh league win of the season.

Five of them now have been 1-0, but their home goal tally this season is just seven from 14 games and that surely has to improve if they are to climb much higher.

They had chances but were twice thwarted when City keeper Daniel Bentley denied Kamil Jozwiak from Graeme Shinnie's cross and again when he turned over a deflected shot from substitute Martyn Waghorn.

The only real low point of Derby's afternoon was what appeared to be a serious 36th-minute injury to Krystian Bielik, a key figure in the recent revival under Rooney.

The Poland international, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, went over near the right touchline and had to be carried off on a stretcher.

Who's next?

Derby now face a rearranged game on Tuesday, a chance for revenge at second-bottom Rotherham, the last side to take points off Rooney's side when they won at Pride Park two weeks ago.

Bristol City's next game is the following night at third-placed Brentford, who will be coming off the back of their 7-2 win over bottom club Wycombe Wanderers.

Derby County boss Wayne Rooney:

"Overall we deserved to win. We started very well. For 25, 30 minutes we were excellent. We moved the ball well on a tricky pitch and created some good chances.

"The injury to Krystian took away a bit of our momentum. He's obviously not great. We'll assess it over the next couple of days, I don't know the full extent of the injury. I just hope it's not too serious because he's been in great form and it would be a big loss for us.

"We are where we are and I'm not really focused on the league table. It's great we've gone on a good run since the Rotherham game. Nine points, but we've got a very important game against Rotherham coming up on Tuesday. It will be a big turning point in our season if we win that."

Bristol City head coach Dean Holden:

"Nowhere near the level we would expect in our performance, They were the better team, no doubt about that. All over the pitch our performance levels weren't what they've been in the last couple of games.

"We just didn't seem to have a spark in our performance and that's surprising. We've had performances like that this season, we've struggled at times. If you are going to maintain a promotion push you've got to look for those consistent levels.

"It's been a bad day for us, no doubt about that. We've got to respond now. We've got a big test on Wednesday night at Brentford, they're a top team and we've got to find a response."