Derby County made it back-to-back wins for the first time in 2023/24 thanks to an impressive 4-2 victory over Peterborough United.
The Rams had fallen behind to a Jonson Clarke-Harris strike but a hat-trick from Martyn Waghorn and a header from Eiran Cashin turned the game on its head before half-time.
Kwame Poku scored a consolation in the 90th minute for the Posh but the Rams had done enough to secure a huge three points in Cambridgeshire.
There was a raucous atmosphere inside the Weston Homes Stadium at kick-off with last season's top six rivalry still fresh in the mind.
The Rams were pressing well early doors but it was the Posh that had the first chance of the game with Jonson Clarke-Harris fizzing a powerful effort towards goal that Joe Wildsmith did well to deal with.
Wildsmith had to be at his best soon later too, once again denying that man Clarke-Harris from a tight angle.
Martyn Waghorn squandered an excellent chance up the other end when he got on the end of a Liam Thompson cross but the forward couldn't adjust his feet to steer past the Peterborough stopper.
The hosts took a deserved lead through Clarke-Harris with just over 20 minutes played. Ephron Mason-Clarke did well down the left and whipped a brilliant ball into the box that gave Clarke-Harris an open net to tap into at the back post.
Derby needed to respond and that they did, levelling things up before the half hour mark. Liam Thompson whipped a lovely ball in from the left and that man Waghorn got in between the two defenders to steer home his third of the season.
After a below-par start, it was the Rams that were in full flow following the equaliser and they turned the game on it's head before half-time.
A well worked corner routine between Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Conor Hourihane saw the former deliver a lovely ball perfectly onto the head of Cashin who nodded into the far corner to put Derby in front.
Two minutes later it was three and Waghorn was on the score-sheet again. Mendez-Laing let fly from 25-yards and Waggy stuck out a toe to direct it beyond Bilokapic.
There was plenty of time remaining in the afternoon for the striker to bag his hat-trick and he did so before the half-time whistle had blown!
Hourihane picked out the Rams number 10 who bent an exquisite effort into the top right corner from the edge of the box to put Derby in dreamland at the break.
Joe Randall fired over from the edge of the box with the first effort of the second-half as the Posh looked for a spark to ignite a comeback.
The Rams still looked the more likely in the early stages of the second period and Waghorn fired one inches wide as he looked for his fourth and Derby's fifth of the day.
Curtis Nelson did brilliantly at the back to get in the way of a goalmouth scramble and deny Clarke-Harris from pulling one back for Peterborough with just over an hour played.
Waghorn continued to look a threat and fired just over the bar following another cut-back from Hourihane.
Substitute Ricky-Jade Jones hooked a speculative effort onto the crossbar as the Posh fired a warning sign to the Rams that the game wasn't over just yet.
Harrison Burrows fired an effort just wide of Wildsmith's post as we entered the final 10 minutes.
The Posh pulled one back as we entered the final minute of regulation, Kwame Poku firing in after Wildsmith had initially saved from a strong Josh Knight strike.
There were five minutes of additional time signalled in the aftermath of the goal but Derby stood strong and saw out a massive 4-2 win on the road.
Peterborough United: Bilokapic (GK), Burrows, Edwards, Crichlow (64' Jones), Clarke-Harris, Mason-Clark, Poku, Randall (64' Knight), Kyprianou, Collins, Kioso
Substitutes not used: Talley (GK), De Havilland, Ajiboye, Tshimanga, Tomlinson.
Derby County: Wildsmith (GK), Forsyth, Hourihane (C) (80' Fornah), Cashin, Waghorn (80' John-Jules), Mendez-Laing (68' Elder), Smith, Washington (64' Collins), Thompson, Rooney, Nelson.
Substitutes not used: Vickers (GK), Bradley, Radcliffe.
Derby County are back on the road a week today when they take on Bolton Wanderers at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in Sky Bet League One (3pm kick-off).
