Nottingham Forest's unbeaten League run finally came to an end at Pride Park where Derby broke down the Forest defence to score the only goal late in the second half and take all three points.
With Derby edging it in terms of chances, Forest defended brilliantly in the first half and Lee Camp made two good saves to finish the first half goalless.
It was a hard-fought second half from both sides, but Derby persevered and finally got the winner from a free kick.
Both sides threatened in the opening minutes, with Derby winning a free kick and then Forest showing their pace with a superb break by
Robert Earnshaw, who combined well with
Radoslaw Majewski to get the ball forward.
Forest put pressure on the Derby defence from the corner and when Bywater punched the ball away and it fell for Earnshaw who blasted the ball towards goal. It came back out again and was put out for a second Forest corner.
Derby also showed their pace with a good run forward by Stephen Pearson who put the ball through to Kris Commons, whose effort at a tight angle won him a corner. Commons' corner was well taken but Pearson's shot was wide.
Forest were unable to find the target when they won a free kick wide on the left.
Chris Cohen's ball in to the far post was good and
Wes Morgan made a good run in to get his head on it, but his effort went wide.
There followed a sustained period of pressure from Derby and headers by Morgan,
James Perch and
Dexter Blackstock all added to some good defending by Forest.
And when Derby won a corner a looping header from Jake Buxton forced
Lee Camp to back pedal to tip the ball over the crossbar for another corner.
They threatened again from another corner, their 8th of the game, when Shaun Barker was unmarked and he headed the ball towards goal, sending Camp diving to his right to tip round post.
Chances were few and far between for Forest, but just before half time Earnshaw tried a shot from 25 yards out but his effort went wide.
Majewski created a good chance early in the second half with a great run down the left into the penalty area where he sent the ball across the face of goal, but it was too strong and it hit
Paul Anderson and went in the wrong direction.
There was a yellow card for Stephen Pearson after what must have been his third challenge on
Chris Gunter in the first eight minutes of the half. And from the resulting free kick, Cohen's effort from wide on the right forced Stephen Bywater to punch the ball out for a corner.
And Forest kept up the pressure with a good cross by Gunter from wide right. The ball found Blackstock inside the penalty area and his header forced Bywater to give away another corner.
Derby made a good break when Paul Green got away from away from Perch, but when the ball came into the box there were plenty of defenders there and the effort from Rob Hulse trickled past the near post.
There were some calls for a penalty when Majewski's ball found Anderson inside the box and his effort seemed to have been stopped by the hand of James McEveley, but the referee indicated that it had hit his chest.
Forest won a free kick 25 yards out on the left, when Blackstock went down after being clipped by Nicky Hunt, but before it was taken Earnshaw was replaced by
Dele Adebola. The free kick was poorly taken by Cohen and the ball went high and wide.
And after more pressure from Derby, as they took their tally of corners to 13,
Guy Moussi came on for Anderson.
Derby took the lead 13 minutes before time when they won a free kick 10 yards out from the far corner flag. It was good delivery by Commons and Hulse evaded the Forest defence and headed in at the near post.
The reaction from the bench was to bring on
Lewis McGugan, who has proved he can score when he comes on as a sub, to replace Majewski.
Blackstock thought he should have had a penalty when Barker pulled him down inside the box, but the Forest striker had already fouled the Derby player to get past him in the first place.
Derby slowed play down with two substitutions as the game moved into stoppage time.
An argument ensued in the last minute of stoppage time when McEveley refused to give the ball back and Gunter tried to get it off him. The referee finally extracted the two players from the crowd of players and substitutes and booked them both and the game ended soon after.
Nottingham Forest: Camp, Gunter, Morgan, Wilson, Perch, Cohen, Anderson(Moussi 76min), McKenna(C), Majewski(McGugan 81min), Blackstock, Earnshaw(Adebola 71min)
Subs not used: Smith, Chambers, McCleary, McGoldrick
Bookings: Majewski 52min, Morgan 74min, Gunter 90+5min
Derby County: Bywater, Hunt, Buxton, Barker, McEveley, Green, Savage, Johnson(Teale 74min) Pearson, Commons(Anderson 87min), Hulse(Porter 89min)
Subs not used: Addison, Deeney, Campbell, Moxey
Bookings: Hulse 43min, Pearson 54min, Commons 69min, Hunt 71min, McEveley 90+5
Scorer: Hulse 79min
Referee: N D Swarbrick
Attendance: 32,674
