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A thunderbolt from George Thorne gave Derby County all three points against Huddersfield Town and lifted the Rams into the Championship play-off places.

Chris Martin gave Paul Clement's side the lead on 15 minutes when he pounced from close range before Harry Bunn got Town level just after the half hour mark.

But the quality that Derby have showed and Thorne hit what was to be the winner just minutes into the second half.

Town huffed and puffed but their lack of real quality in the final third rarely troubled the Rams' well-drilled defence.

Chris Powell stuck with the same XI that beat MK Dons on Tuesday night but contrary to reports, on-loan winger Mustapha Carayol featured on the bench.

Clement made one change for the visitors with Craig Forsyth preferred at left-back ahead of former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock.

Jacob Butterfield made his first return to the John Smith's Stadium since leaving for the East Midlands outfit in a £5million deal on transfer deadline day.

Derby's Tom Ince was causing problems down the flanks in the opening minutes while Town forced a couple of corners but failed to make any of them pay.

The visitors had a slice of luck when they took the lead on 15 minutes when Johnny Russell's volley deflected into the path of Martin who put the ball into the net despite shouts of offside from the home crowd.

Sean Scannell was forced off after picking up a knock to be replaced by Carayol while Derby replaced Ince with Andreas Weimann.

Town were stepping up the pressure and they too had a slice of luck with their equaliser on 31 minutes.

Carayol's cross from the right flank was missed by Richard Keogh and the ball fell to the feet of Ishmael Miller. Miller's effort from close range hit the crossbar and bounced back down but Bunn was there to nod the ball over the line for his second goal of the season.

Derby began to go through the gears but they found Jed Steer in the Town goal in fine form. He denied Jason Shackell with a header form a corner before denying Bradley Johnson and Thorne to keep the home side level at the break.

But the on-loan Aston Villa goalkeeper couldn't do a thing about Thorne's shot three minutes into the second half. Butterfield's cross was headed clear by Joel Lynch but Thorne pounced on the edge of the Town box to fire a volley into the left top corner.

Steer then denied Derby's full-back Cyrus Christie with an out stretched leg and from the resulting corner the stopper denied Martin with a near post header.

Bunn was replaced by Jamie Paterson before Derby caught Town on the counter which saw Weimann play in Martin in acres of space but the Scotland international was denied superbly by the onrushing Steer.

Flo Bojaj replaced Miller with nine minutes to go and he connected with Mark Hudson's knock down but his effort was weak.

Steer went up for a corner in added time and got caught out but Derby sub Jamie Hanson's effort from the halfway line was weak and easily cut out by Dean Whitehead.

With the last kick of the match, Jason Davidson fired way over the bar in a decent position after being set up by Paterson.

Teams:

Huddersfield Town: Steer, Cranie, Hudson, Lynch, Davidson, Scannell (Carayol 21), Whitehead, Huws, Bunn (Paterson 76), Wells, Miller (Bojaj 83).
Subs not used: Murphy, Smith, Billing, Boyle.

Derby County: Carson, Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Forsyth, Butterfield, Thorne, Johnson, Ince (Weimann 26), Martin (Bent 91), Russell (Hanson 75).
Subs not used: Grant, Baird, Pearce, Shotton.

Referee: Tony Harrington
Attendance: 15,371.