Middlesbrough moved into Championship play-off places and compounded Derby woes with a resounding 4-1 victory at the Riverside Stadium Saturday.
All the talk in the build-up to the game was surrounding the off-field drama between the two clubs, with a resolution to Boro’s legal claim against the Rams having been agreed this week.
But Derby were left with plenty to resolve on the pitch after being dismantled by Boro a defeat which leaves them four points from safety.
Lee Buchanan’s own goal was cancelled out by Max Bird, but Boro led 3-1 at the break after quickfire goals from Aaron Connolly and Matt Crooks before Duncan Watmore rounded off the scoring in the 89th minute
Middlesbrough went in front when Isaiah Jones produced the first of his assists as he charged down the right and played a teasing ball across goal only for Buchanan to prod the ball through the legs of his own goalkeeper after 16 minutes.
Derby responded six minutes before the break as Bird fired a first-time volley from Paddy McNair’s clearing header that managed to squeeze its way through a crowd of bodies and into the bottom left corner to send the travelling support wild.
While the concern was whether tempers would flare off the pitch, it starting boiling over on it as Marcus Tavernier and Tom Lawrence went head to head during an off-the-ball altercation while Crooks was booked for a dangerous challenge.
But with the half-time interval looming, Jones took the game by the scruff of the neck.
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He played a ball to Connolly with his back to goal in the 44th minute and the Irish striker turned and saw his shot deflect off Curtis Davies into the opposite corner for his first Boro goal.
In the second half, Folarin Balogun, who was also looking for his first Boro goal, came within inches of doing so when neat play freed him down the left. He drove into the box and flashed a shot across goal but Ryan Allsop got his fingers to it.