Tom Ince scored another two goals as Derby County recorded their third consecutive win in the Sky Bet Championship with a 3-0 victory over Rotherham United.

The 24-year-old wideman opened the scoring after 15 minutes, tucking away his first of the afternoon after seeing his initial penalty saved by Lee Camp in the Millers’ goal.

Darren Bent added a second just four minutes later to give the Rams breathing space and that led to a comfortable afternoon for Steve McClaren’s side in their first game back in action after the international break.

Ince added a second with a composed finish shortly after the hour mark and he should have completed his hat trick, but saw a second penalty saved superbly by Camp.

The result also served to see Derby secure their fourth clean sheet on home soil too as they moved to within four points of the second tier’s top six.

This one was a slow burner to start with, but with the run of results the Millers travelled to Derbyshire on the back of 12 without a win and early Derby goal, on the face of it, would be critical.

In an opening littered with mistakes from both sides, the hosts did get an early breakthrough and it set the tone for the rest of this game.

After the hosts had dealt with Rotherham cross into the box, the ball fell to the feet of Jacob Butterfield and the midfielder cranked up through the gears as he charged up the pitch. He fed Ince out on the right and after making his way into the area, he was tripped – resulting in his first penalty of the afternoon.

He assumed control himself, but saw his initial effort saved by Camp, before he tapped in the follow up that, kindly, fell into his path.

Four minutes later, and another swift counter attack resulted in a quick second goal.

Butterfield led the charge once more as he broke from his own half to about 30-yards from goal. Under pressure, at that point, he played the ball into the feet of Bent, who peeled away to the right, and he composed himself to strike a low shot into the far corner of the goal.

Bent nearly added a third shortly after, but saw his tame effort easily claimed by Camp, whilst Chris Baird, filling the right back void in place of the injured Cyrus Christie, saw a speculative long range effort deflected over.

Alex Pearce came closest to adding a third before half time from the resulting corner as he climbed highest to meet Ince’s corner, but Camp showed great instincts to get a strong hand to his firm header.

It had been a comfortable half for the Rams, but they were indebted to a fine save from Scott Carson at his near post to ensure they went into the break two goals to the good.

Joe Newell, the Rotherham winger, managed to wriggle his way into the hosts’ penalty area, before unleashing a firm right footed shot that needed to be palmed away by the Derby ‘keeper – the last piece of notable action from another good first half showing from McClaren’s men.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first 45 minutes as Rotherham rarely threatened a comeback.

Chances also came at a premium over the first 20 minutes of this half, before the Rams did add a third, with Ince grabbing his second of the afternoon.

Timing his run to perfection, he latched on to a deft header and found himself through on goal and with just Camp to beat, he composed himself to slot a low shot into the back of the net.

From there he should have completed his hat trick as no more than five minutes later, Oliver Langford, the referee, awarded a second penalty of the contest after Ince, once again, had been bundled over.

The result was the same as the first as Camp second guessed Ince and got two first hands to his spot kick to turn the effort away from goal, denying the Derby wideman his fifth goal in Championship outings.

That’s how the contest would end, but Camp still had a couple more saves to make to ensure that was the case.

He denied Andreas Weimann, the substitute, who snapped at Richard Keogh’s knock down, whilst the Millers’ ‘keeper was on hand to deny Matěj Vydra from close range too.

The damage was already done, however, as Rotherham’s winless run stretched to 13, but Derby’s upward trajectory as they recorded a third straight league win.

Derby County: Carson, Baird, Keogh (C), Pearce, Lowe; Johnson (Bryson, 81), Butterfield, Hughes; Ince, Russell (Weimann, 62), Bent (Vydra, 68)

Substitutes not used: Mitchell, Shackell, Anya, Hanson

Rotherham United: Camp, Mattock, Wood (C), Ward, Forster-Caskey (Brown, 61), Taylor (Vaulks, 61), Odemwingie, Halford, Fisher, Newell, Adeyemi

Substitutes not used: Price, Kelly, Fry, Belaid, Yates

Attendance: 28,191 (935 away supporters)