Derby County manager Paul Clement was left beaming after his side produced a clinical performance to see off struggling Fulham 2-0 and move to the top of the Championship table on Boxing Day.
Tim Ream’s own-goal seven minutes into the second half and Jacob Butterfield’s late second settled a hard-fought contest as Fulham made it nine matches without a win.
The visitors had fought hard to keep Derby at bay and had chances of their own to breach the home defence, notably through Ross McCormack, who shot wide and substitute Matt Smith who headed over.
But despite being forced to dig deep to take all three points, Clement admitted it was all about the result and not the performance during the heavily congested festive schedule.
He said: “They have out-scored what I thought they were capable of at this stage of the season, 47 points is an impressive total, particularly after the start we had. Maybe we have surprised ourselves. I have to be very pleased with that tally.
Read more: Andy Mitten on Manchester United supporters strengthening their faith in dark times
“But on today’s game I did not think we played well. They frustrated us and we did not have the rhythm, tempo or fluidity we have seen.
“I wanted them to do the things I asked them to do before the game. One of those was using the width of the pitch.
“They have some really good players and they always felt dangerous to me. It never felt comfortable. But that second goal had some real quality about it.”
The breakthrough came early in the second half as Johnny Russell burst past the visitors’ defence and hit a cross from the left which bounced off Ream six yards out and went into the net.
Fulham came close twice when Lee Grant was forced to save from Luke Garbutt and Smith headed over from eight yards.
But Derby made the points safe on 84 minutes as Butterfield played a lovely one-two with Chris Martin before finishing past Andy Lonergan.
Overnight leaders Middlesbrough saw their Boxing Day trip to Blackburn postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Elsewhere, Hull City moved up to third after an impressive 3-0 win over fellow promotion candidates Burnley at the KC Stadium. After a tight first half, Jake Livermore opened the scoring for Hull in the 57th minute with a crashing volley past Burnley keeper Tom Heaton.
An equally fine finish from Uruguayan striker Abel Hernandez extended the home side’s lead before Sam Clucas put the gloss on the performance with a third in injury time.
Stuttering Brighton & Hove Albion dropped to fourth after being held to a goalless draw by Brentford at Griffin Park.
In fact Brighton had keeper David Stockdale to thank for holding out for a point afer he made superb late saves to keep out Jake Bidwell’s flying header and a curling drive from Alan Judge.
Ipswich Town held on to the final play-off place after an injury time header from Luke Chambers gave Mick McCarthy’s men a 2-1 home win over Queens Park Rangers.
The game looked to be heading for a draw after Junior Hoilett’s header on the stroke of half-time was cancelled out by a close-range effort from Jonathan Douglas.
But captain Chambers had other ideas and seized the points when he met a Freddie Sears cross and directed the ball into the bottom corner.
Sheffield Wednesday also kept up their play-off push with an impressive 3-0 win over Birmingham City at Hillsborough, two goals from Fernando Forestieri sandwiching a 39th-minute effort from Kieran Lee.
At the bottom, Bolton Wanderers’ crisis-hit season went from bad to worse as they were hammered 4-0 at fellow strugglers Rotherham United.
Grant Ward, Danny Ward, Joe Newell and Jonson Clarke-Harris all scored in the second half as Bolton collapsed to a defeat which leaves them 10 points from safety.
Harry Lennon’s injury-time equaliser gave second-bottom Charlton Athletic a valuable point at Bristol City, for whom Nathan Baker had grabbed a 45th-minute lead.
Huddersfield Town eased to a 3-1 win over Preston North End thanks to a Nakhi Wells double and one for Emr Huws before Adam Reach grabbed an injury-time consolation.
And Josh Murphy scored a last-minute winner to give MK Dons a 2-1 win over Cardiff City, who thought they had done enough to earn a point when substitute Craig Noone cancelled out Nicky Maynard’s opener with nine minutes left.
In the late kick-off, James Henry’s header was enough for Wolves to end their poor run of home form with a 1-0 win over Reading.
Henry’s neat 18th-minute finish earned his side their first home win in seven attempts and extended Reading’s poor run to six successive away defeats.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
