Derby County were back in action this afternoon as they faced Stoke City after their 4-1 defeat to QPR in midweek

Derby County's miserable home record at Pride Park continues as Stoke City snatched a 1-0 victory this afternoon.

Luke Graham's goal just after half-time was enough to seal all three points on another forgettable afternoon that will heap further pressure on Derby head coach John Eustace.

Derby picked up two more injuries just to give them more problems to deal with after Alex Mowatt was ruled out of action with a foot injury while Lewis Travis limped off in the second half.

The result leaves Derby in the bottom three amid growing fan discontent following a dismal start to the campaign which has yielded just one win in 11 league games.

To compound matters for Derby, Stoke's goal was from a familiar source in that it was a cross into the box from Ethan Galbraith that was met by Graham whose header took a deflection past Josh VIckers.

Rhian Brewster did come close to scoring for Derby when he was teed up on the edge of the box, but the former Liverpool forward struck the foot of the post.

Derby were close to an equaliser at the death but Ozoh was denied by a brilliant save from Viktor Johansson.

Josh Vickers: Had nothing to do in the first half in a game that was mired in a lot of skirmishes which prevented either side from gainig momentum. Kicking was sound. Almost kept out Stoke's winner. 5.5

Joe Ward: Still has yet to find his range with his crosses from wide positions when he was so often a threat last season, but he was better here than he was at QPR. 5

Ryan Nyambe: Was deployed in the heart of the defence after injury to Sondre Langas and did well in the first half. Just did what he had to do. Was never going to be creative, but by and large, as an emergency, was solid. 6

Dion Sanderson: Was excellent in the first half and gave as good as he got to Cisse who was trying to get behind Derby but the ex-Birmingham man put a stop to that in the opening 45 minutes. 5.5

Ryan Hedges: Another solid game from the makeshift left-back who stuck to his task well and just played it simple. Won a couple of crunching tackles too. 5.5

Lewis Travis: Went to ground too easy on a couple of occasions which didn't fool the referee and rolled his ankle in the foul that led to Stoke's equaliser. FIrst start since August and ended it injured. 4

David Ozoh: The midfielder tried to get Derby going with some powerful runs and had a chance in the second half that was blocked. Was so close to scoring but was denied by a superb save. 6

Mo Fuseini: Had an intriguing battle with Luke Graham and it's clear he will have the beating of most, if not all, defenders in this league. Derby just need to find a way of consistently unlocking it. He concedes too many fouls though. 4.5

Bobby Clark: Drove a shot wide of the target in the first half and tried to force some mistakes with his pressing. Delivery into the box was so poor in the final third mind. Has to do more. 4

Sam Szmodics: Delivered a peach of a ball for Morris who appeared to be brought down by Bosun Lawal in the first half. Came close to scoring before the break. Looked a threat in patches. 5

Carlton Morris: Didn't get any help from the referee when he was brought down by Lawal in the first half which was the source of great frustration to the striker. Mostly fed on scraps. 4.5

Subs

Rhian Brewster (Travis 50): Hit the foot of the post with a strike from outside the box. Still can do more. 4

Henirk Meister (Fuseini 73): Has a long way to go before he will convince anybody in Derby that he can make a serious imapct. 3

Corey Blackett-Taylor (Hedges 87): Did put one cross into the back post. N/A

Filip Bilbija (Clark 87): Didn't make an impact. N/A

Lars-Jorgen Salvesen (Szmodics 87): Was involved in a scramble at the end. N/A