Derby announce themselves in play-off race with rampant Bristol City win

If Sky Sports’ chosen camera angle hadn’t already given you vertigo, checking the Championship table will.

Derby County are up to sixth in the second tier after blowing away Bristol City.

First to play this weekend, it may well be short-lived. For now, though, The Rams lead a chasing pack that is more congested than Bristol’s roads: City’s Sinclair Armstrong and Neto Borges both missed the start of the warm-ups due to the gridlock.

But there was no such problem on the pitch at Ashton Gate, where it was one-way traffic throughout.

Rhian Brewster, Ben Brereton Díaz, Bobby Clark, Patrick Agyemang and Lars-Jørgen Salvesen. All were on the scoresheet in a game defined by crisp combination play and clinical counter attacks.

This most comprehensive victory is yet more impressive considering it came without Sondre Langås who “strained his hamstring” in the draw with West Brom, and Jacob Widell Zetterström. According to John Eustace, he was “back at home in bed”, still suffering from the virus which kept him out of the Charlton game ten days earlier.

Brewster opened the scoring after 13 minutes. The number 10 broke free of four surrounding defenders to instinctively find the bottom-right-corner from Callum Elder’s lofted cross-of-the-season-contender.

Albeit not quite matching his first Derby goal at Portman Road, it was the first of a handful of classy moments from the once-£20m man. Touted as one of England’s hottest prospects a few years ago, this is the quality Eustace hopes the 25-year-old can bring with fitness seemingly less of an issue.

Brereton Díaz doubled Derby’s delight just three minutes later, finding the bottom-left-corner via a deflection after being played in by Clark.

Like the first, the build-up started from Matt Clarke stepping forward, this time to press Gerhard Struber’s side into a mistake. Often viewed simply as a ‘head it, kick it’ defender, his in-possession impact typified The Rams complete display.

Within 20 minutes, cries of “Ole!” were coming from the Derby end. When did that last happen? Under Lampard? McClaren?

Brereton Díaz and Clark unsuccessfully reversed roles when the latter shot just wide of Radek Vítek’s right-hand post in the 26^th minute. Some smart defending from Callum Elder then kept the score at 2-0 as he blocked Mark Sykes’ cross, before second time was the charm for Salzburg loanee Clark.

Yet again it began with a Matt Clarke interception, the ball finding Brereton Díaz via Patrick Agyemang. The Chilean’s following cross found Clark in the inside-left, who calmly put it through Vítek’s legs.

Sam Bell looked to have put a dampener on things when he beat Richard O’Donnell five minutes before the break, only for the offside flag to be raised. The goalkeeper had little to do otherwise, required to make just one save as he remained well protected by his backline.

Struber brought on his late arrivals at the break, but The Robins remained behind Eustace men in practically every metric bar possession. Derby’s substitutes, though, reinforced the importance of a strong bench – something they will surely look to build upon further before Monday evening’s transfer deadline.

Principally, Oscar Fraulo refuelled the midfield. He hit a peach of a ball out to the right, from where Joe Ward hit a pinpoint cross. Moments after firing high and wide of the top-left-corner, Agyemang could not help but rise above George Tanner to powerfully head in Ward’s delivery.

In cruise control, Eustace then took the opportunity to rest all four goalscorers and give out some Championship debuts. But Derby’s refreshed frontline, including academy graduate Owen Eames and new Burnley loanee Jaydon Banel, did not take their feet off the gas.

After receiving a square pass from Fraulo, Eames was denied his first senior when Rob Dickie booted his effort onto the bar and clear. But The Rams remained relentless, with Lars-Jørgen Salvesen completing a five-star performance by sliding in Andi Weimann’s cutback with two minutes to play.

Analysis: Putting down a marker

Eustace may insist that “the first goal is getting to 50 points”, but it is surely hard for even the most pessimistic fan to not be a little excited after this remarkably well-rounded trouncing of a fellow play-off hopeful. Derby are the second tier’s best travellers, and they have just raised the bar for an individual performance by some distance. Every player was worthy of at least an eight out of ten.

There are elements of this display Eustace should hope become standard. Admittedly, repeating the feat of a 5-0 away league win, something The Rams last did at Plymouth Argyle in 1959, is not one of them. But as at Preston and Charlton, the composure in possession embodied by David Ozoh, fluid positional play and the energetic higher press all stood out - the next challenge is implementing this at home.

After gaining 13 points from a possible 18, January has been far from blue for Derby, but Friday night feels like the moment to seize. Carlton Morris is not far away from a return, and there are still a couple of days of the window to go.

With 30 games played, we’re fast heading towards the home straight: this is where the play-off race gets real.

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Goals: Brewster 13’, Brereton Díaz 16’, Clark 36’, Agyemang 66’, Salvesen 88’.

Bristol City (3-4-2-1): Vítek (GK); Tanner, Dickie Pring; Sykes (Borges 46’), Randell, Knight (C), McCrorie; Bell (Armstrong 46’), Twine (Burgzorg 63’); Riis.

Unused Substitutes: Lumley (GK); Naylor; Williams, Earthy, Morsy; Pecover.

Derby (4-2-3-1): O’Donnell (GK); Ward, Sanderson, Clarke, Elder; Travis (C) (Fraulo 60’), Ozoh; Brereton Díaz (Eames 78’), Clark (Weimann 78’), Brewster (Banel 70’); Agyemang (Salvesen 71’).

Unused Substitutes: Vickers (GK); Forsyth, Batth; Thompson.