Derby County held on for a 3-2 victory over Wolves in an entertaining clash at Molineux in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Rams took a two-goal lead into half-time thanks to goals from Tom Ince and Darren Bent, but Wolves pulled one back after 61 minutes through Helder Costa.

Ince then added a second from the spot in the 77th minute, before Dave Edwards headed in what turned out to be a consolation goal eight minutes from time.

The result leaves Steve McClaren with three wins from five games since returning to manage Derby, while managerless Wolves remain close to the relegation zone.

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Derby started by far the stronger of the two sides and it took just six minutes for them to open the scoring. 

Max Lowe had the freedom of Molineux to swing a cross on to the head of Will Hughes, but Wolves goalkeeper Andy Lonergan could only palm his save into the path of Ince, and he made no mistake in firing home from close range.

The away side continued to pile pressure on, and in the 15th minute Bent added a stunning second, watching Hughes' clipped pass in behind over his shoulder before rifling it home on the volley.

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And it could have been even worse for Wolves before the break, as Bent sent a header just wide of the post from a corner after 27 minutes, while Lonergan had to be at his best on two occasions around the half-hour mark, first preventing a Matt Doherty own-goal with a low save to his right, before tipping Jacob Butterfield's fierce strike on to his post a couple of minutes later.

Derby should have been out of sight by half-time, but Wolves improved after the break and, just after the hour, they were back in the game. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson nicked the ball away in front of Scott Carson, who was a little slow off his line, and he played it into the path of Costa to fire into a virtually empty net.

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Wolves pushed forward for an equaliser and looked by far the likelier to score until the 77th minute, when Ivan Cavaleiro daftly bundled Ince over in the box, before the midfielder stepped up himself to slot home his second of the afternoon from the resulting penalty.

The home side were not in the mood to give up, though, and just five minutes later they were back in the game again as Cavaleiro went some way to making up for giving away the penalty with a superb cross into Edwards at the near post, who headed neatly past Carson to make it 3-2.

Again Wolves were chasing a leveller, and the home fans were left screaming for a penalty on no less than three occasions in the closing stages. But the referee was unmoved, despite Ince's poor challenge on Cavaleiro, Jonny Russell's apparent handball and a clumsy challenge on Doherty, and Derby held on for the win.

Derby boss Steve McClaren:

"It was a fantastic first half. We earned the right to play and played great football. That is the kind of football that we want to see.

"We should have scored more than two in the first half but it was good to see the level and the progress that we have made in three weeks that they can play at that level."

Wolves caretaker boss Rob Edwards:

"I think that they saw in the second half that there is a really good group of players here. There is a lot of quality here and it is about finding some consistency now.

"I really think we can look forward. We all need to stick together and I am sure that when the new manager comes in and has a couple of weeks to work with the players, we can get a positive result."