Derby revived their play-off challenge with an impressive second-half comeback to beat Blackburn 3-1 at Pride Park.

The visitors led through Hayden Carter's header but Ben Brereton Diaz struck against his former club to turn the game in Derby's favour.

Matt Clarke punished tentative defending before the impressive Derry Murkin claimed his second assist to provide Rhian Brewster with the goal to seal victory and leave Rovers in relegation trouble.

Carlton Morris made his first Derby start since November but the opening chance fell to Brereton Diaz, who got through on the right and fired in a low shot which was beaten away by Balazs Toth.

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Blackburn were getting plenty of possession without creating anything until a loose pass by Lewis Travis allowed Yuki Ohashi to spin and hit a shot which went narrowly wide in the 20th minute.

Patrick Agyemang did his best to bring some quality to the contest with a burst of pace down the left but again Toth made a good save.

There was a flashpoint in the 34th minute when Sam Szmodics reacted angrily to a tackle by Adam Forshaw that resulted in several players getting involved before both were booked by referee Leigh Doughty.

Blackburn worked a good opening in the 40th minute, with Ohashi playing in Yuri Ribeiro who tried to beat Josh Vickers at his near post but the keeper made a good block.

Vickers was beaten in first-half added time when a teasing free-kick from Ribeiro presented Carter with an inviting header which he planted into the roof of the net.

Blackburn had a chance to double their lead early in the second half when a free-kick dropped to Andri Gudjohnsen but he pulled his shot wide.

That was a big moment as Derby equalised in the 55th minute when Murkin picked out Brereton Diaz who scored inside Toth's right post from 15 yards.

The momentum was with Derby and they went ahead in the 74th minute through Clarke, who had a simple tap in after Szmodics played the ball across after Blackburn failed to clear a free-kick.

Any hopes Blackburn had were snuffed out in the 82nd minute when Murkin again got in on the left and delivered another excellent cross which Brewster headed in from six yards.

The managers

Derby's John Eustace:

"I thought the first half was a difficult half, Blackburn are playing some really good stuff at the moment and we knew it was going to be a really difficult game.

"I was disappointed with the way we were with the ball and without it in the first half but we adapted second half, we wanted to be more on the front foot in certain areas and I thought we were excellent.

"I think we've got to enjoy the last 11 games now, we wanted to see the club progress from last season and this season has been all about that and putting us in the right direction.

"To be on 51 points with 11 games to go is a fantastic achievement, especially after the first 10 games where we didn't get the rub of the green with injuries and we recruited very late.

"We found a way to pick up a few points and in the last 20 odd games we've been a team that's probably quite high in the form table and the way we've been progressing on and off the pitch has been fantastic.

"To get to this stage at the end of February is very, very good but there's still a lot of hard work ahead."

Blackburn's Michael O'Neill:

"We played very well in the first half. I thought we dealt with the long balls and picked up lots of second balls and played some really good football although we could have been better in the final third.

"Overall we looked comfortable and going in at 1-0 ahead we felt we deserved it at that point.

"But the squad is not strong and we don't have depth and at times the team that finishes the game is not as strong as the team that starts the game.

"But we need to develop durability both individually and collectively and I think as a team we need to be more durable and we weren't able to do that in the second half.

"We are going to need some players back and we are going to need to find some resilience in the current group of players as well.

"I've said to the players to be prepared for this to go right to the wire, that's the way we have to approach it. We have 11 games and we have a massive week ahead of us but it presents us with a big opportunity and we have to try and maximise that opportunity."

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