Shaun Barker's first-half goal was enough to hand Derby County a 1-0 victory at Coventry City this afternoon.

Barker pounced to force a corner from Michael Tonge over the line to give the Rams their third success of the season on their travels.

There was late drama at the Ricoh Arena with the Sky Blues having an injury-time equaliser ruled out for offside, and Derby were able to celebrate a deserved victory on the road.

Striker Rob Hulse scored both goals in Derby's 2-1 success over Coventry back in November - as well as Derby's solitary goal in last season's 1-1 draw at the Ricoh Arena - and he was recalled to the Rams starting XI in place of Steven Davies.

The home side started on the front foot with their playoff aspirations all-but evaporated after a disappointing March and Stead flashed a shot just wide within the first thirty seconds.

Morrison and Stead both tested Bywater with weak efforts before the ten minute mark, but otherwise the opening exchanges were relatively even.

Shaun Barker has established himself as a rock at the heart of the Derby defence since his arrival from Blackpool last summer, and while he continues to perform effectively at the back he is also a menace in the opposition's penalty box, as Coventry discovered twenty minutes in.

The defender got the vital touch from Tonge's corner to open the scoring with his fifth goal of the campaign, and despite Coventry's best efforts to hack the ball off the line the linesman raised his flag to signal the ball had crossed the line.

Coventry chased a response quickly and Bywater beat away a header from Stead, who was looking for his first goal in a month and looking to get one over his former club.

But as the half neared its conclusion Coventry were struggling to get a foot-hold on the game to get that equaliser, with Derby spraying the ball around confidently and a spell of pressure inside the Coventry half yielded a number of crosses and corners to put the home side on the back foot.

Derby had a half-chance to double their lead in first half injury time but from a narrow angle Hulse flashed a left-foot effort wide with Westwood caught out of position.

The Rams were forced into a change at the break after Leacock picked up a slight knee injury towards the end of the first period, and Nicky Hunt came on in his place slotting straight in at right-back.

Coventry - as expected - were out of the traps very quickly in the second half and Bywater was called upon to make an outstanding stop to turn away Clingan's stinging volley from the edge of the area and Barker reacted quickest to hack the loose ball away.

Straight away on the break Derby caught the Sky Blues on the break and Pearson played a neat ball in behind the defence to Hulse but he dragged his shot wide.

Derby had to defend resolutely for the first fifteen minutes of the half to ride the storm and limit Coventry to very few opportunities.

Like in the first period, once Derby rode the pressure they were able to get the ball down and stamp a little more authority on proceedings.

Savage tested Westwood with a free-kick was arrowing towards the top corner with twenty minutes left, but the former Carlisle goalkeeper moved across his goal quickly to deny the midfielder his third of the season.

Barker had the ball in the net again with fifteen minutes left with a towering header from another Tonge corner, but Referee Mr D'Urso ruled the effort out for a push.

Davies replaced Hulse up top with six minutes to go to inject some fresh legs into Derby's frontline, and he immediately ran at the home defence and from the edge of the box he dragged his shot just wide.

Gary Teale followed Davies in coming off the bench soon afterwards in place of Tonge, his first appearance since the end of January.

Three minutes of injury time were signalled by the officials which resulted in a few very minutes for the Rams, and one came in the second minute of injury time when a low cross from Hussey looked to have been touched home by Morrison inside the six-yard box.

However, the official on the far side raised his flag to signal the striker was offside and the goal was ruled out. The home side claimed Morrison had not touched the cross-shot from Hussey, but the officials refused to change their minds and the goal did not stand.

An equaliser would have been rough justice on the Rams, and they saw out the closing seconds for a thoroughly deserved win.