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Derby County have all but secured their Sky Bet Championship play-off place with a win against a Huddersfield Town side who self destructed at Pride Park.

Nahki Wells had put Town in front but Johnny Russell, once a Huddersfield transfer target, equalised for the home side.

Then the visitors decided to press the self destruct button. First defender Joel Lynch was shown a second yellow just before the break and then goalkeeper Alex Smithies fumbled an easy catch into the net.

The misery was compounded when Peter Clarke made a hash of a clearance then went straight through Will Hughes to give Derby a penalty, which was converted, and himself a red card from the referee.

The win puts Steve McClaren's Derby 11 points clear of 7th place with four matches to go whilst Mark Robin's Huddersfield have not won in their last nine and have lost the last three matches on the bounce.

Three changes were made to the Town side that lost dismally to Ipswich Town in midweek, out went Tommy Smith, Paul Dixon and Oscar Gobern in came Peter Clarke, Calum Woods and Jonathan Hogg.

Derby pressed from the start with Richard Keogh, who once had a loan spell at Huddersfield, fired over the bar from close range after Smithies had blocked Russell's effort.

Danny Ward should have had won a penalty for Town after colliding with Jake Buxton but the winger turned provider as The Terriers took the lead on 14 minutes.

Ward went past his marker after collecting a pass from Adam Clayton before supplying a low cross that was converted with a simple tap in by Nahki Wells at the far post.

Wells could have doubled Town's lead but Derby goalkeeper Lee Grant pulled off a great save after the striker had latched on to Keogh's back pass.

Patrick Bamford had missed a chance minutes earlier but the home side were back on level terms on 28 minutes. George Thorne's lovely through ball was raced to by Russell who flicked the ball into the back of the net.

It was all downhill for Huddersfield after that as they were reduced to 10 men two minutes before half-time. Joel Lynch had earlier been booked for time wasting at a throw, was shown a second yellow for a late foul on Bamford.

Derby took the lead 5 minutes into the second half with a helping hand from Alex Smithies as the Town goalkeeper misjudged Craig Forsyth's cross and palmed the ball into his own net.

To his credit Smithies pulled off a smart save to deny Bamford but Town then found themselves down to nine men on 57 minutes. Peter Clarke's poor clearance was picked up by Will Hughes and the Town captain went straight through the midfielder with a rash challenge giving the home side a penalty.

Clarke was shown a straight red by Darren Deadman and Chris Martin sent Smithies the wrong way to notch his 21st goal of the season.

Clayton went close with a shot from the edge of the area as the midfielder ran at the Derby defence and Smithies pulled off another smart save to deny Jamie Ward from point blank range with three minutes to go.

Teams:

Derby: Grant, Wisdom, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth (Naylor 70), Thorne (Hendrick 70), Bryson, Hughes, Martin, Bamford (Ward 67), Russell.
Subs not used: Legzdins, Whitbread, Eustace, Sammon.

Huddersfield: Smithies, Lynch, Clarke, Gerrard, Woods, Hogg, Norwood (Wallace 59), Clayton, Hammill (Smith 45), Ward, Wells (Scannell 74).
Subs not used: Bennett, Gobern, Holmes, Bunn.

Referee: Darren Deadman
Attendance: 25,809.