Derby County fell to a 2-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Tuesday Evening.

After a goalless first-half where the Rams were forced to put up a solid defence as it continued to be tested, Joe Rothwell and Bradley Dack secured the victory for the home side late on in the second-half.

The loss keeps Derby on the outskirts of the play-offs in eighth and is the first defeat for the Rams in five games.

It was a difficult opening half for Derby with Blackburn looking strong upfront and pushing for the opening goal, but Derby’s defence held strong with Richard Keogh in particular making important blocks.

Derby’s best chance came with just less than ten minutes to go in the half when Tom Lawrence stripped the Rovers’ defender as he tried to play out the back. The Rams winger burst forward before feeding out wide to Harry Wilson who dragged his shot just wide from 10 yards out.

Two minutes before the break, Amari’i Bell tried his luck rifling a shot from outside the area which Roos managed to tip just wide with his fingertips. The resulting corner landed to Elliott Bennett who volleyed into the side netting.

With just over 20 minutes to play, Blackburn looked like they would finally find the opening goal when Harrison Reed broke forward and crossed to Joe Rothwell at the far post but Jayden Bogle raced to clear it off the line.

Rothwell had another opportunity in the 72nd minute when he drove into the box to go one-on-one with Roos but fired over the crossbar.

Rothwell got his goal with 15 minutes to play in similar fashion to moments before as he rushed onto a throughball in the area and lifted it over the Rams’ keeper. His effort stuck the inside of the far post before rolling in.

On the stroke of 90 minutes Bogle made another clearance off the line after Lewis Travis fired a low shot past Roos. However, Blackburn grabbed their second in added time after an initial shot was blocked again by Bogle, but Dack rushed on to it and tapped it in at the far post.

Blackburn Rovers: Raya; Bennett (C), Lenihan, Williams, Bell; Reed, Travis; Conway, Dack, Rothwell (Armstrong, 81); Graham (Nuttall, 90)

Unused Subs: Leutwiler, Nyambem Rodwell, Brereton, Evans

Derby County: Roos; Bogle, Keogh (C), Tomori, Cole; Bryson (Holmes, 64), Johnson; Wilson, Mount, Lawrence; Waghorn (Bennett, 52)

Unused Subs: Carson, Wisdom, Jozefzoon, Nugent, Huddlestone