Coventry City 1-0 Derby County: Biamou's goal Sky Blues win
- Published
Maxime Biamou netted his fifth goal of the season
Maxime Biamou's clinical finish was enough to give Coventry City victory over Derby County to move six points clear of the Championship relegation zone.
The striker intercepted a misplaced pass by Nathan Byrne before he ran through the Derby defence to calmly slot the ball past Kelle Roos early in the first half.
Biamou had two chances to double the lead but missed connecting with Fankaty Dabo's cross shortly after he opened the scoring, and hit a powerful half-volley narrowly wide in the second half.
Derby were slow out of the blocks at St Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium but were denied an equaliser midway through first half when Ben Wilson produced an excellent save to deny Rams defender Matt Clarke.
Colin Kazim-Richards glanced a header wide from Lee Buchanan's cross after the break but Wayne Rooney's side appeared lacklustre throughout.
Matty James came close to doubling the Sky Blues' lead shortly after the hour mark but his superb strike from 25 yards smashed off the woodwork.
Victory for Mark Robins' side moves them level on 38 points with the Rams, who remain one place above Coventry in the table on goal difference.
Derby announced before the game they would become the latest Championship side to stop taking a knee before matches.
Coventry City manager Mark Robins told BBC Coventry:
"It's massive, it's huge. I think coming into it, the performance is always paramount.
"I thought we did it brilliantly today. Max (Biamou) had a lot of to do to get the other side of their defenders and he did it brilliantly and then finished really well.
"It's a big, big club Derby County and we are on the same points and in the same division as them, and you just look at that and that in itself is starting to look bright.
"Honestly, credit to the players, they have been fantastic and if they continue to do that they'll pick up results. I felt today everybody to a man ran their socks off, we worked hard, we closed them down."
Derby County manager Wayne Rooney told BBC Radio Derby:
"The goal we gave away was a silly goal to give away and then after that the game management from us wasn't great today.
"I thought we didn't create enough chances, the switches of play were on all afternoon and we didn't use it.
"We didn't really look like conceding a second goal but we didn't look like scoring. It's a disappointing performance for us and we have to bounce back.
"It's frustrating, we know the players have got quality, we know they are capable of finding passes or crosses and that didn't happen."