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FT: Derby 2-0 Preston Derby climb out of Championship relegation zone and up to 20th with fourth successive win Forsyth fires Derby in front against Preston; Yates bundles in second Preston's Osmajic has ball in net in first half but flag goes up in build-up for offside against Porteous - replays suggest he was onside Mid-table Preston remain 14th - now seven points above drop zone L2: Promotion-chasing Notts County beat MK Dons By Alex Hoad #bbcefl Phew. After a slow start it all came to life, but not in glorious Technicolor, tonight it was all black and white. .. Derby County look to have found their groove at the perfect time under new boss John Eustace to give themselves every chance of avoiding the drop from the Championship. Cardiff are the new tenants in the drop zone, for a few days at least, while Preston look adrift on the seas of mid-table for another season. In League Two, Notts County have waded into the thick of the title race with a comprehensive win over MK Dons, who might well start browsing summer holiday brochures soon too. No holidays for us - we're back on Friday night to see John Eustace's former employers, Blackburn, taking on Middlesbrough. Thank you for your company this evening, we'll see you back here soon! All games kick-off at 15: 00 BST unless stated There is less than 48 hours now to wait until the start of a full weekend programme of Championship fixtures, and my word, are there some doozies in here to look forward to. Of course we'll be right here throughout the weekend to bring you live coverage of all of these games. Friday Blackburn v Middlesbrough (20: 00 BST) Saturday Coventry v Burnley (12: 30 BST) Luton v Leeds (12: 30 BST) West Brom v

Sunderland (12: 30 BST) Bristol City v

Watford Millwall v

Portsmouth Oxford United v

Sheffield United Plymouth v

Norwich Preston v Stoke QPR v Cardiff Sheffield

Wednesday v Hull City Swansea v Derby FT: Derby 2-0 Preston Two goals for Derby, and both trademark striker's goals too. Of course the first of them came from evergreen centre-back Craig Forsyth, who took a couple of tidy touches in the box before pulling a shot back across his body, through a crowd, into the corner. Jerry Yates then popped up in the right place at the right time to guide Nat Phillips' downward header past Dai Cornell to double the lead just four minutes later. FT: Derby 2-0 Preston What a night for Derby. What a month for Derby. They haven't just climbed out of the relegation zone after 12 points from 12, leaving Cardiff below the dotted line, they have also overhauled Hull City, by virtue of scoring more goals. With games against Swansea, on Saturday, Luton, Hull City and Stoke to come, Derby's hopes of avoiding the drop are very much in their own hands. FT: Notts County 3-0 MK Dons Back-to-back wins for Notts County have taken them right into the mix in League Two with only six games remaining. In a promotion race which has slowed to more of a crawl in recent weeks, they might just be clicking at the right time. Not in the picture, MK Dons remain 18th, but still surely too far clear of danger, with a 10-point lead over the bottom two. FT: Derby 2-0 Preston Steve Eyre Former Manchester City coach on BBC Radio Lancashire Too many players were playing 10 yards out of position today for me. They were just doing a job, when you're just doing a job you end up drawing and losing football matches. FT: Derby 2-0 Preston Malcom Christie BBC Radio Derby It's a collective effort, this is what we have wanted. John Eustace is loving it, as are the fans, and so they should. Things are looking up, not down at the moment. We've finally got something to put smiles on our faces. Everybody should be so proud and pleased with the past few weeks, we'll be going into the next game full of confidence. Derby 2-0 Preston John Eustace lost his first three games as Derby boss, without his side scoring a goal. They have since won four in a row in the Championship, for the first time in nearly five years, and are now out of the relegation zone. In a blistering opening to the second half Craig Forsyth's low shot into the bottom corner and Jerry Yates' poacher's second were enough to secure a win which had looked unlikely in a dour first 45 minutes. The Rams are looking up, whereas Preston have endured four days to forget and look destined for mid-table obscurity once more. Derby 2-0 Preston Kenzo Goudmijn replaces Marcus Harness for the hosts for the final few seconds. Notts County 3-0 MK Dons The Magpies fly into the title race with a win which turned out to be comfortable. David Mc Goldrick found the top corner in style, Nick Tsaroulla slammed the second and Will Jarvis curled a sublime third to take County within four points of leaders Walsall with six games remaining. They are fourth, two points behind Bradford and Port Vale above them. MK Dons are preparing for next season. Derby 2-0 Preston Mads Frokjaer picks up a booking after bundling into Harrison Armstrong in midfield. The Preston frustration grows ever larger. He looks like he lost his footing. There will be FOUR minutes added at the end of this one. Derby 2-0 Preston Ooof. Nat Phillips slides in on Emil Riis in the box as he tries to latch onto a throughball and nervously looks round at ref Steve Martin. He didn't have the best view and points to the corner flag. No VAR in the Championship, of course, but if there was that would surely be a penalty. Derby 2-0 Preston Decisive keeping from Jacob Zetterstrom again, charging off his line to claim a high ball into the box as Preston try to build a late head of steam. He's been commanding tonight, Rams fans will love to see it. Derby 2-0 Preston Brave keeping from Jacob Zetterstrom who nips to his near post to gather a bouncing cross, with Emil Riis flicking a boot at the ball and catching the Swede. No card, but that won't do Danish-Swede relations much good. .. Derby 2-0 Preston Malcom Christie BBC Radio Derby We're happy with the way the way the game is going at the moment. We don't need it to be free flowing, we just need to keep taking time out of the game. Derby 2-0 Preston Kayden Jackson picks up a pass from Ebou Adams and drives towards the box before being felled by Ben Whiteman. Marcus Harness, brimming with confidence, takes a one-step run up to the 25-yard free-kick but can only launch it well over the angle of post and bar. Derby 2-0 Preston Feels like Derby have weathered the, well, not quite storm, but squall from the visitors. They have taken the sting out of the game expertly in the past few minutes. The home fans are in full voice and we have less than 10 minutes of normal time to play. Derby 2-0 Preston Striker Ched Evans is introduced by the visitors for the final 20-odd minutes, with Lewis Gibson the man to make way. Going for it. Why not? Derby 2-0 Preston A rather crude challenge from Robbie Brady on Ebou Adams near the touchline earns the Preston sub a yellow card. Needless. Born of frustration, I suspect. Get Involved: #bbcefl, via Whats App on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply) With the FA Cup defeat and now this, it looks like Preston have ended their season prematurely. Damian Jerry Yates ended his seven-game goal drought to put Derby 2-0 up Derby County continued their impressive resurgence by beating Preston North End to claim a fourth successive Championship win and climb out of the relegation zone. After an underwhelming first half, Derby flew out of the traps in the second and Nat Phillips set up two goals in four minutes for Craig Forsyth and Jerry Yates to secure a 2-0 win and three more crucial points for the hosts. Preston registered just one shot on target, which came in the second minute when Milutin Osmajic was denied by Derby goalkeeper Jacob Zetterstrom after being played in by a Ryan Nyambe error. Victory lifted John Eustace's side up two places from 22nd to 20th, as they leapfrogged Cardiff City and Hull City to move a point clear of the drop zone with seven games to go. Mid-table Preston's position remains unchanged as they stayed 14th, now seven points clear of danger. Derby were in danger of being cut adrift before three pre-international break wins in a row lifted them off the foot of the Championship table and breathed life into their survival bid. Their start at Pride Park against Preston reflected their confidence as they won a corner inside the first minute. However, Preston, back in action after their FA Cup quarter-final exit against Aston Villa on Sunday, broke from it and had the game's first chance. Nyambe's attempted backpass instead ended up being a through ball for Osmajic - but the Preston striker's first two touches took him slightly away from goal and he could only fire straight at Zetterstrom. That was a let-off for Nyambe but he did not escape injury. The Rams right wing-back hurt himself in the process of trying to play the ball back and was forced off. Derby then had another injury scare when their other wing-back, Callum Elder, was left writhing in pain after jarring his knee. Thankfully for the hosts, he was able to run off the injury and return. Once the game settled into a pattern, Preston dominated possession and could consider themselves unlucky when Osmajic put the ball in the net after the flag had already been raised against Ryan Porteous, who was deemed to have been offside before he flicked on. However, replays showed Porteous was onside before his involvement in the move. Derby offered little in response before half-time but began the second half with much more intent, and were rewarded with the opening goal in the 48th minute. Phillips knocked down Elder's deep corner to experienced defender Forsyth, who managed to sort his feet out, avoided team-mate Ebou Adams and squeezed a left-footed finish into the bottom corner. Four minutes later things got even better for Derby. Elder's cross was again knocked down by Phillips and Yates pounced, getting a crucial touch to nudge the ball past Preston goalkeeper David Cornell for his first goal in eight games. Ryan Ledson curled just off target with a presentable chance created by Kaine Kesler-Hayden as Preston sought a way back into the game. With time running out, Preston appeared to have grounds for more complaint after substitute Emil Riis was brought down by Phillips in the box but referee Stephen Martin gave a corner rather than penalty, much to the bemusement of boss Paul Heckingbottom. But, overall, Derby had few problems seeing the game out after establishing their two-goal advantage with their brilliant start to the second half. Derby head coach John Eustace told BBC Radio Derby: "I'm very proud of the football club, the players, the staff, the fans. It's a huge effort [to win four Championship games in a row for the first time in five years], not down to any individual. "It's about a family. I spoke when I came in about wanting to create a family here at the football club and whatever happens this year it's important that we all grow together and we're successful together and that's not done in a short period. That's done over a long period. "It's important that we don't get too carried away. "We've got a huge game now on Saturday [at 16th-placed Swansea] and we'll prepare properly for that. "It makes no difference if we're out the bottom three tonight. We want to be out of the bottom three after the last game of this season. "That's all I'm worried about. We're making small steps forward. You can see there's a confidence in the group and that's all I can ask for. " Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 2nd April 2025 at 21: 52 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: John Eustace Formation: 3 - 5 - 2 Manager: Paul Heckingbottom Formation: 3 - 5 - 2 Manager: John Eustace Formation: 3 - 5 - 2 Manager: Paul Heckingbottom Formation: 3 - 5 - 2 We're still improving Match stats. Let us know what you think. Championship All competitions All competitions All competitions Derby have only lost one of their last 14 home league games against Preston North End (W8 D5), a 0-1 reverse in December 2020 under Wayne Rooney. Preston have lost just one of their last six games against Derby County in all competitions (W3 D2), although that was their last away game against the Rams, a 1-0 defeat in the Championship in April 2022. Derby have won each of their last three games in the Championship, as many as their previous 26 beforehand (W3 D8 L15); the Rams last won four successive matches in the competition in July 2020 (5 in a row). After their 2-1 win over Portsmouth, Preston are looking to win back-to-back Championship games for only the third time this season, after doing so in December (v Hull & Sheffield Wednesday) and January (v Watford & Middlesbrough). Marcus Harness has three goals and an assist in Derby’s last two league games, this after only scoring once and assisting once in his first 31 appearances in the Championship for the Rams beforehand. Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.