Derby earned a first away win since their return to the Championship by beating Coventry 2-1 at the CBS Arena.
Jerry Yates opened the scoring for the Rams before supplying the cross that Bobby Thomas turned into his own net.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto halved the deficit for the Sky Blues with 13 minutes left but they were unable to grab a late equaliser.
Jack Rudoni gifted the Rams the opening goal in the 11th minute when his back pass was latched on to by Yates and the striker calmly rounded Oliver Dovin and tucked in his second of the season.
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Jack Rudoni’s rogue back-pass tees up Jerry Yates’ goal against Coventry
Derby had come to frustrate and did just that, epitomised by Eiran Cashin’s 34th-minute yellow card for delaying the restart.
Paul Warne made five changes as the Rams reverted to a 3-5-2, with Nathaniel Phillips coming into a back three while Callum Elder replaced Craig Forsyth.
There were also starts for Kenzo Gougmijn and Liam Thompson in midfield while Dajaune Brown started next to Yates in attack.
Coventry struggled to get to grips with Derby’s change of approach and looked far different to the team who had beaten Middlesbrough 3-0 at the Riverside on Saturday, which followed a dramatic 3-2 comeback against Luton in their last home outing.
It took the Sky Blues 41 minutes to register a shot on goal through Haji Wright, who blazed over after a corner dropped to him on the edge of the six-yard box.
Mark Robins introduced Ephron Mason-Clark and his energy almost got the hosts level, but his cross was met by a last-ditch tackle to prevent Sakamoto tapping in at the back post.
Derby had brought on Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to threaten Coventry with his pace, and his cross was almost perfect for the flying Yates to tap in a second.
The Rams snatched a second in the 73rd minute when Yates drove down the left and crossed towards Mendez-Laing, but Thomas’ outstretched leg diverted the cross into the far corner in front of the rapturous away following.
The frustrated Sky Blues had a goal back less than five minutes later through Sakamoto, who wriggled free on the edge of the box and fired a low effort beyond Jacob Zetterstrom in the Derby goal.
Coventry sniffed an equaliser and piled the pressure on in the final 10 minutes as Eccles lifted his effort over the top.
Wright then met a dangerous ball from the right but did not get the connection he wanted as his attempted header bounced safely wide.
The managers
Coventry’s Mark Robins:
“What’s frustrating for me and everyone watching, I suppose, is that one minute we are at a really high level and then a few days later we are miles off it. The first half we were miles off it. We gave them a leg up.
“We should have won the game tonight. We have got really, really talented players and they didn’t perform to their expected level.
“If they play to their expected level against a side that work as hard as Derby, that work their socks off to try to stop us playing, deny us space, and they have got a little bit of quality as well and when they do that they are a threat and a decent team.
“They put us under pressure and we played the ball backwards and invited it on. The back-pass from Jack (Rudoni) was uncharacteristic but they ended up scoring and taking the lead.
“The intensity just wasn’t there. You have to move the ball quickly and try to shift them really quickly. We tried to play the same way as we did against Middlesbrough but it’s a different game.
“I take responsibility for it, I take responsibility for all the results. Tonight wasn’t good enough.”
Derby’s Paul Warne:
“We’re really pleased to win, Coventry are a really good side, I have the upmost respect for Mark Robins so it doesn’t make it any sweeter, in fact I’d rather beat any other manager.
“I’m never bothered about the outside noise, I know it’s a big deal to some people but it isn’t to me, it’s just about accumulating as many points as you can and if they’re all at home, they’re all at home.
“I’d like to win away because people travel, but I don’t want to win away from home because the pressures outside the football club demand it.
“I thought prior to them scoring I felt reasonably comfortable, it might not have looked it because we were shouting at the lads all the time, I thought we defended crosses well and that’s one of their super strengths, when needed the keeper helped us out and we defended all the set-pieces really well.”
