Derby fight back to beat Blackburn

Derby revived their play-off challenge with an impressive second-half comeback to beat Blackburn 3-1 at Pride Park.

The visitors led through Hayden Carter’s header but Ben Brereton Diaz struck against his former club to turn the game in Derby’s favour.

Matt Clarke punished tentative defending before the impressive Derry Murkin claimed his second assist to provide Rhian Brewster with the goal to seal victory and leave Rovers in relegation trouble.

Carlton Morris made his first Derby start since November but the opening chance fell to Brereton Diaz, who got through on the right and fired in a low shot which was beaten away by Balazs Toth.

Blackburn were getting plenty of possession without creating anything until a loose pass by Lewis Travis allowed Yuki Ohashi to spin and hit a shot which went narrowly wide in the 20th minute.

Patrick Agyemang did his best to bring some quality to the contest with a burst of pace down the left but again Toth made a good save.

There was a flashpoint in the 34th minute when Sam Szmodics reacted angrily to a tackle by Adam Forshaw that resulted in several players getting involved before both were booked by referee Leigh Doughty.

Blackburn worked a good opening in the 40th minute, with Ohashi playing in Yuri Ribeiro who tried to beat Josh Vickers at his near post but the keeper made a good block.

Vickers was beaten in first-half added time when a teasing free-kick from Ribeiro presented Carter with an inviting header which he planted into the roof of the net.

Blackburn had a chance to double their lead early in the second half when a free-kick dropped to Andri Gudjohnsen but he pulled his shot wide.

That was a big moment as Derby equalised in the 55th minute when Murkin picked out Brereton Diaz who scored inside Toth’s right post from 15 yards.

The momentum was with Derby and they went ahead in the 74th minute through Clarke, who had a simple tap in after Szmodics played the ball across after Blackburn failed to clear a free-kick.

Any hopes Blackburn had were snuffed out in the 82nd minute when Murkin again got in on the left and delivered another excellent cross which Brewster headed in from six yards.