Derby County claimed a rare Premiership win this afternoon when they beat Aston Villa at Pride Park despite being dominated for most of the game.
Villa controlled the first half without ever working a genuine opening and then, just a minute before the break, surprisingly fell behind when Dion Dublin failed to clear a corner, allowing Fabrizio Ravanelli to hook the ball past Peter Schmeichel and into the net.
Villa, though, equalised almost immediately. Dublin flicked on a long Steve Staunton cross and Derby defender Youl Mawené completely botched his clearance, leaving Juan Pablo Angel with the easy task of ramming the ball past Mart Poom from eight yards.
After more aimless fumbling, Villa almost took the lead in the 67th minute, when substitute Hassan Kachloul crashed a low shot towards goal after Angel teed him up outside the box, but Poom dived full-stretch to touch the ball onto the post.
Instead, Derby raced down the other end, and when Schmeichel feebly palmed a Ravanelli cross only as far as the edge of the six-yard box, Benito Carbone pounced to fire the ball into the far corner of the net, claiming his first goal for the club.
Villa pressed forward relentlessly, and in the final fifteen minutes brought on Croatian striker Bosko Balaban to join Angel and Dublin in attack.
But it was another substitute, Derby’s Malcolm Christie, who was to have the greatest impact, latching onto a long clearance in the 88th minute to stroke the ball past Schmeichel and offer manager Colin Todd an unexpected Chrsitmas present in the form of three precious points.