Derby's Ebou Adams celebrates his goal against PortsmouthGetty Images

Ebou Adams has made 21 appearances for Derby this season

Andrew Aloia
BBC Sport

Derby County brought an emphatic end to their poor form as they cruised to victory against lowly Portsmouth in the Championship.

Kane Wilson gave Derby - a side that had won just one of their previous 11 games and none of their past six - the ideal start as he slotted home the opener with a first-time finish after cleverly being picked out in the box by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.

Eiran Cashin powered home a header from a corner to double the first-half advantage before Ebou Adams soon made it 3-0 at Pride Park with a close-range effort that was deflected in by Pompey defender Tom McIntyre.

Marcus Harness then forced a fourth against his former side, with his dancing run into the box ending with a cutback pass that pinged off Pompey captain Marlon Pack for an own goal.

The game in the East Midlands was the first between the Rams and Pompey since they came up together from League One last season, with Portsmouth winning the title and Derby finishing as runners-up.

And while Pompey's return to the second tier got off to a slow start, spending three of the first four months of the season in the relegation places, their draw with Norwich on Tuesday moved them one place clear of the drop zone.

Derby, by contrast, started the campaign solidly but had struggled in recent weeks.

Having picked up just nine points from a possible 33 in the 11 games since mid-October, Rams boss Paul Warne spoke about being "well aware of the enormity" of their meeting with a side that started the night just four points and four places below them in the table.

After setting his team up to try and smother and frustrate Leeds and Burnley on the road in the past six days, Warne went with a more attacking formation with four at the back while also shuffling his side with five changes.

Two of the five to come into the starting XI for the Rams combined to make a decisive early impression, with winger Mendez-Laing finding Wilson lurking in the box to coolly finish a sweeping move that started with Cashin on the edge of Derby's own area.

Cashin, who was passed fit to play after taking a knock at Turf Moor on Tuesday, got on the end of a Kenzo Goudmijn corner for Derby's second before a smart backheel pass from Mendez-Laing helped set the Rams up for another soon after.

The pass found Craig Forsyth overlapping in the area, and the full-back's low cross was forced home by Adams, via a big deflection, as Derby scored three goals in the first half of a game for the first time since October 2023.

Apart from a cross-turned-shot from Jacob Murphy, which forced Jacob Widell Zetterstrom into action, Portsmouth failed to trouble their hosts.

Derby could have been even better off before half-time if not for a fine save from Nicolas Schmid to deny Jerry Yates.

Pompey's night in the East Midlands only got more miserable after the interval, with the energetic Harness rattling the visitors' defence as he burst into the box before drilling a low ball into the path of backtracking defender Pack, who could only thump it into his own net.

James Collins came off the bench to head just wide in search of a fifth for Derby, while Schmid went on to claw the ball off the line late on to ensure a defensive mix-up did not result in backpass from Abdoulaye Kamara dribbling into his own net.

Derby climb to 14th in the table, seven points clear of the drop zone, while Portsmouth are only out of the bottom three by virtue of having scored more goals than Cardiff.

Pride in 'headline-grabbing win' - reaction

Derby County head coach Paul Warne told BBC Radio Derby:

"I'm really pleased, there were some good performances within it. I didn't think we had as much control as the scoreline suggested in the first half.

"I don't think we played better tonight than we have in any other home game, it's just that goals change games and fortunately tonight we were on the right side of those chances.

"The lads are really confident, and I can say that because I'm with them all the time.

"They are not, not confident – they know they are a good team. We have been excellent at home, and we have been competitive away from home.

"In the last three games [at Leeds and Burnley before the Portsmouth game] I've been proud of each performance, but obviously this one gets headlines because we have won."

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho told BBC Radio Solent:

"It all went wrong from the start really. Coming here was always going to be difficult on a Friday night, but we invited pressure with a couple of really poor decisions early on.

"It was a really strange first half, there wasn't a huge amount in it but every time Derby went forward they looked like scoring.

"We actually settled into the game okay after we went a goal down, but the second from a set-piece is really disappointing - I think we could do better from every phase of it.

"And after that, when it's 3-0, we huffed and puffed in the second half and had a couple of very minor chances, and once we didn't convert one of those we don't get back into the game at all.

"I always thought there was a chance at 3-0 to get a goal to get back into the game, but at 4-0 it could have been more after that."

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