At least Derby County have achieved one record this season. Ladbrokes closed the book last night on their chances of being relegated, the earliest that bookmakers have paid out on a team departing the top flight. In contrast, the odds on David Bentley, the Blackburn Rovers winger, starting for England against Switzerland in February must be shortening rapidly after this match-winning performance.

If supporting Derby this season is like a nightmare, Steve Howard may wake up in a cold sweat today as he recalls taking a penalty with his team leading 1-0, only to be 2-1 down within five minutes. It was a microcosm of Derby’s year: hopes raised, elation within reach only to be cast aside just as swiftly. It was like a mirage.

Blackburn took full advantage yesterday. Trailing to Matt Oakley’s third goal of the season, when the returning captain spun on to Giles Barnes’s intelligent layoff to drive through Brad Friedel’s legs, Mark Hughes’s team were in danger of continuing their poor form when Ryan Nelsen tripped Kenny Miller in the 37th minute to offer Howard, last season’s leading scorer for the club, a chance to claim his first goal at Pride Park this season.

Friedel saved and Blackburn scored 80 seconds later. Bentley found all the room he desired to cross from the right and when Lewis Price parried Benni McCarthy’s shot, Roque Santa Cruz snaffled up the rebound for his eighth goal in five matches.

Derby’s chins hit their chests and when Barnes conceded possession cheaply, Bentley cruised past Claude Davis before rasping home a 25-yard shot into the bottom corner. It was his seventh goal of a season during which Blackburn had won only once in nine matches before yesterday.

Paul Jewell accused his players, who are ten points adrift of seventeenth place, of throwing in the towel. “Anybody can miss a penalty,” the Derby manager said. “But what happened to our team after that sums us up. You could see we were going to concede. You could see shoulders droop — we gave it up too easily. There weren’t enough real men out there.”

Blackburn dominated the second half, with Bentley shooting against a post, and Hughes, his manager, believes that the winger should be given a chance with England. “I thought he was excellent, not only for his technical ability but for his ability to work for the team,” Hughes said. “I was really impressed with the way they stuck together out there and worked for each other, and David was a big part of that.

“He’s made the breakthrough and we hope that David’s form will be bringing him to \ attention. He’s good enough to be a top international player. Hopefully, rather than being in England squads, he could be part of the team.”

Derby County (4-4-2): L Price 5 — T Mears 5, C Davis 4, M Johnson 5 (sub: C Fagan, 59min 6), J McEveley 5 — D Leacock 5 (sub: B Feilhaber, 46 4), M Oakley 7, G Barnes 4, E Lewis 5 — K Miller 5 (sub: J Macken, 79), S Howard 5. Substitutes not used: B Hinchliffe, G Teale. Booked: Lewis. Next: Bolton Wanderers (a).

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): B Friedel 6 — B Emerton 5, Z Khizanishvili 5, R Nelsen 5, S Warnock 5 — D Bentley 8, Tugay Kerimoglu 7 (sub: D Dunn, 90), A Mokoena 5, M G Pedersen 6 (sub: M Olsson, 84) — R Santa Cruz 7, B McCarthy 6 (sub: M Derbyshire, 88). Substitutes not used: J Brown, B Berner. Booked: Nelsen, Mokoena, Warnock. Next: Sunderland (h).

Referee P Walton
Attendance 30,048