Derby County fell to back-to-back Sky Bet Championship defeats for the first time since September as Aston Villa held on to record a precious 1-0 win at Villa Park.

James Chester’s header, midway through the first half, proved to be the defining moment of a cagey contest in the West Midlands, where both teams needed the three points to arrest their respective recent struggles.

The Rams threw everything at Villa over the second half, dominating long spells of possession, but they closest they came to finding a goal was through former Villa man

Darren Bent, who saw a header tipped over by Sam Johnstone.

The results leaves the Rams 10 points adrift of the play-off positions with 13 games remaining, after Sheffield Wednesday fell to a 1-0 defeat in a Yorkshire derby battle with fellow promotion chasers Leeds United.

The opening and ending to this meeting was dominated by nerves and tension, which was a fair reflection based on the current run of form of both sides.

Whilst Derby were without a win since the end of January, Steve Bruce’s Aston Villa came into the contest on the back of five successive league defeats and were without a win since Boxing Day.

In front of their own supporters, the hosts were under an intense microscope. The first goal is often key in games with so much riding on it and, unsurprisingly, Villa sought to relieve any early pressure with a goal.

Scott Carson, a former Villan himself, denied Bruce’s men an early breakthrough, tipping over a looping header from Chester, the hosts’ captain, after he had risen to meet a dangerous free kick into the area.

He got a second chance on 25 minutes, but this time he made no mistake. From another set piece, on this occasion Henri Lansbury's corner, the Rams failed to deal with the delivery and as the ball dropped into six-yard area, it was bundled into the back of the net by the determined centre back.

Derby enjoyed plenty of prolonged spells of possession over the remainder of the contest, but they lacked any real penetration in the final third, failing to register a shot on Johnstone’s goal over the remainder of the first half - although they felt they should have had a stonewall penalty after Bent was tripped in the penalty area.

Their biggest threats came down the flanks – particularly the left – but Johnny Russell and Max Lowe saw all their efforts to deliver dangerous crosses snuffed out by a resilient Villa backline.

That was a pattern that continued into the second half, but McClaren’s side did need the help of the post four minutes into the restart to make sure the deficit, crucially, remained at just 1-0.

Andre Green was the man denied, hitting Carson’s far post after he had been picked out by Leandro Bacuna on the right side and Richard Keogh hacked the danger clear before the loose ball could be bundled in.

That proved to be the captain’s last piece of action as he was forced off, seemingly injured – leaving McClaren no choice but to reshuffle his back four and introduce Chris Baird.

At the other end, the visitors persisted to create plenty of moves going forward, with the midfield trio of Julien de Sart, Will Hughes and Jacob Butterfield playing prominent roles as they picked up plenty of pockets of space, but a combination of lack of quality and robust defending continued to thwart Derby from troubling Johnstone.

Alan Hutton had their hosts’ last big chance to add the second goal they needed to give them breathing space, but after a free kick bounced into his path, Alex Pearce got his body behind the full back’s drive from the edge of the area.

Surviving that laid the foundation for Derby to enjoy their strongest spell of the game as the visitors pushed Villa deeper towards their area as Johnstone began to be called into action.

McClaren threw on David Nugent and Mason Bennett – the latter for his first senior appearance since January 2015 – to add extra bite in attack to a side that by this point was well on top in the contest.

Will Hughes shot wide from the edge of the area with the visitors’ first real opportunity of the afternoon and Derby’s best chance fell to Bent with 15 minutes remaining, but the 33-year-old was denied by an excellent save by Johnstone, who flung himself across goal to tip over his header for a corner.

After that, the industrious Tom Ince saw a powerful shot across goal fly a whisker wide of the far post and after Leandro Bacuna was shown a red card, the four minutes of added time boiled down to whether Derby could find a last-gasp equaliser.

All 11 men in black and white shirts piled into the Villa goal mouth, but the Rams still could not find a way through as they fell to back-to-back league defeats for the first time since September.

Aston Villa: Johnstone, Baker, Taylor, Lansbury, Bacuna, Chester (C), Green (Bjarnason, 74), Hutton, Jedinak, Kodjia (Gardner, 88), Adomah (Amavi, 71)

Substitutes not used: Bunn, Elphick, Bree, Grealish

Derby County: Carson, Christie, Keogh (Baird, 49), Pearce, Lowe; de Sart, Butterfield (Nugent, 65), Hughes; Ince, Russell (Bennett, 74), Bent

Substitutes not used: Mitchell, Bryson, Anya, Olsson

Attendance: 30,935