Derby County cruised to their second away victory of the season with a 3-0 victory at the Championship's bottom club Peterborough United.

A Steven Davies penalty and a brace from DJ Campbell hit the goals as Derby claimed the points against nine-man Peterborough who had centre-backs Craig Morgan and Ryan Bennett dismissed in the first half.

Derby lined up with four changes from the FA Cup 3rd Round replay tie with Millwall in midweek.

Nicky Hunt, Shaun Barker, Campbell and Davies were all handed starts in place of Miles Addison (injured), Kris Commons and Chris Porter (on the bench) and Lee Croft (not involved). New signing Russell Anderson was amongst the substitutes after signing until the end of the season yesterday.

Inside the first three minutes Peterborough had an excellent opportunity to open the scoring but former Ram Izale McLeod dragged his shot wide inside the box after latching onto a long ball forwards from the back. It was a golden chance, and one that Peterborough would live to regret not taking.

Derby showed eagerness to get forwards from the off, with Davies and Campbell linking up well together to post questions to the home defence in their first start together in attack as a partnership.

The opening exchanges were nothing short of lively as both sides showed no signs of sitting back in a real end-to-end encounter before two passionate sets of supporters.

Davies had a reasonable chance after thirteen minutes with a header from Hunt's drive cross, but he couldn't direct his effort on target to test Lewis in the Peterborough goal.

As Derby upped the pressure and enjoyed the better of proceeding they were almost rewarded with a spectacular goal from Campbell, but his acrobatic scissor-kick from Green's pull-back was inches off target.

Derby thought they had finally made the breakthrough at the midway point of the half but from Green's floated cross Lewis performed heroics to turn away Davies' header at point-blank range.

Peterborough suffered a hammer blow to their hopes of a positive outcome moments later when defender Morgan flew into a challenge with Campbell two-footed off the ground which left Referee Mr Miller with no other option but to issue a red card.

Derby kept the pressure on with a man advantage and Davies had a goalbound shot blocked by the legs of Gilbert as they pushed for the breakthrough goal.

Moments before the break Derby hit Peterborough on the break and Green fed Campbell with a neat through-ball but his attempt to lob Lewis was unsuccessful as the giant goalkeeper clutched the ball out of the air.

With quality up top in Boyd and Mackail-Smith Peterborough were always a threat on the attack and both Barker and Moxey threw themselves in the way of efforts from the front pair.

In first half injury time, Derby finally got the break their play deserved to take the lead. Campbell was hauled down by Bennett inside the area, which resulted in a red card for the former Grimsby Town defender and the home side down to nine men. Campbell was clear on goal, leaving Mr Miller again with no other option.

Davies did the business from twelve yards, confidently slamming the ball home for second goal in as many games to give Derby the lead. Peterborough barely had time to kick off again before Mr Miller brought the half to an end, resulting in a strong chorus of boos and chants against the performance of the official.

Within a few minutes of the second period, Derby doubled their lead to crush hopes of a comeback from the home side. Campbell was denied at close range by Lewis who made a smart save inside the six-yard box, but the striker was first to the rebound and he slotted the ball away for his second goal in Derby colours.

With a two-man advantage, Derby were enjoying long spells of possession and time on the ball and Davies almost added a third on the hour but Lee made a fine sliding challenge. It was Davies' final act as he was placed moments later after an impressive performance and he was replaced by Chris Porter.

Commons was also thrown into the action soon afterwards in place of skipper Savage, a move that saw Pearson move into the middle of the park and Commons operate out wide on the left-hand side of midfield.

Derby's two man advantage was too much for Peterborough, and the final twenty minutes were for Nigel Clough's men to stay professional as a team and complete the task in hand.

Clough had said in the wake of the Scunthorpe defeat a week ago it was time to draw a line and move on from what had happened, and focus on a bright and positive future. And, with two successive victories (one on penalties in the FA Cup but a win is a win) Clough has received the perfect response from his players.

The points were wrapped up with fifteen minutes remaining as Derby retained the ball well and worked an opening for Commons to deliver the most inviting of balls to the far post which was met by a diving header from Campbell which flashed past the helpless Lewis.

Derby immediately made their final change, throwing on Anderson for his Rams debut in place of Barker at the heart of the defence.

Bywater had been given very little to do all afternoon, owing much to a superb defensive display from the Rams but he also played his part with two excellent saves in a minute from range to deny Boyd and Livermore as Peterborough rallied with a consolation goal in their sights. In the dying minutes Bywater also denied Mackail-Smith, who should have done better clear on goal.

Commons came close to adding a fourth with a powerful shot late on but he couldn't add to Derby tally and the Rams saw out the closing stages to record a very welcome victory and also a fourth successive clean sheet away from home in the Championship.

The Rams are back in Championship action a week on Tuesday at another side in the Championship's bottom three, Plymouth Argyle.