Derby County vs Blackburn Rovers match report: Jacob Butterfield’s early strike builds on Darren Wassall's Rams revival

Derby County 1 Blackburn Rovers 0

Butterfield scored the winner against Blackburn on Wednesday (PA)

Darren Wassall celebrated his second win as Derby’s new coach which takes them back to fifth place in the Championship, precisely where they were when Wassall’s predecessor, Paul Clement, was sacked this month.

The decisive moment in a closely fought game came when Jacob Butterfield beat Blackburn goalkeeper Jason Steele with a left-foot shot from 20 yards following a quickly-taken free kick on the right.

The referee’s assistant had spotted Grant Hanley’s foul on Johnny Russell and before Blackburn could organise themselves to defend the free-kick, Chris Martin’s cross had found Butterfield, the £4 m former Huddersfield midfielder taking one touch to control the ball before lashing it low to the left of Steele from 20 yards.

The visitors, who reverted to the strongest line-up available to manager Paul Lambert following the FA Cup thrashing by West Ham, enjoyed enough possession to have found a way back into the game and, with two long-throw exponents in Ben Marshall and Tommy Spurr, were able to put pressure on the Derby defence.

Danny Graham had the best chance to put them on level terms before half-time when Corry Evans found him with a precise through ball but the striker lost his balance after turning defender Jason Shackell and sent his shot ballooning over the bar.

Derby, for whom Russell went close just before half-time, moved the ball quickly from defence to attack and only a good reaction save from Steele stopped Martin extending their lead 15 minutes into the second half.

Their victory at Brentford at the weekend, Derby’s first since Boxing Day after a run of eight without a win, was inspired by the trio of substitutes used by Wassall but of the three only Martin started here, after Darren Bent dropped out through illness.

Nick Blackman and Tom Ince, both of whom were credited with assists against Brentford, found themselves back on the bench as Wassall went for an otherwise unchanged starting line-up.

Ince was given another chance to make an impact after 65 minutes and drew a save from Steele with almost his first touch.

Yet the game remained open, play switching rapidly from one end to the other. Nonetheless, Blackburn, now with only one win in their last 11 matches in the Championship, did not force Scott Carson into a meaningful save until there were only 20 minutes remaining.

The Derby goalkeeper kept out a free-kick by Marshall after Ince had brought down Jordi Gomez, whose header in stoppage time skimmed the Derby bar.

Derby County (4-1-4-1): Carson; Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Olsson; Hanson (Bryson, 73); Russell (Ince, 66), Hendrick, Butterfield (Blackman, 80), Johnson; Martin. Substitutes not used Grant (gk), Buxton, Camara, Weimann.

Blackburn Rovers (4-2-3-1): Steele; Marshall, Duffy, Hanley, Spurr; Lenihan, Evans; Gomez, Bennett, Grimes (Brown, 69); Graham. Substitutes not used Raya (gk), Henley, Kilgallon, Watt, Ward, Akpan.

Referee N Miller (County Durham)