Derby County produced their best showing of the season to beat Birmingham 4-0 at St. Andrews.
Wayne Rooney’s side flew out of the traps in the Midlands, scoring three times in the first 25 minutes to blow the hosts away.
Krystian Bielik got the ball rolling, pouncing on a Neil Etheridge error, with Graeme Shinnie then converting penalty two minutes later after a foul in the box by Harlee Dean.
Colin Kazim-Richards then struck his fourth of the season after a failure to clear from a corner by the Blues, and Jason Knight added the icing on the cake in the second half.
Knight’s performance in particular had a number of Derby fans drooling on social media after the game:
Unreal again, what a player he is
— Alex Walker (@AJ_Walker97) December 29, 2020
Dublin dynamo. Absolutely fantastic, again. It’s not a surprise anymore, brilliant player.
— Tom Morris (@TomDcFcMorris) December 29, 2020
What a player 🔥
— Cameron Roe (@Camroe99) December 29, 2020
Absolute baller, well played lad 🏆
— Steve Bloomer’s Weeping 🐏 (@Simmy_P) December 29, 2020
Phenomenal, Brysons engine was unreal, but Knights is INSANE!!!! 🤯
— Stefan🇦🇪Broome (@StefanBroome) December 29, 2020
Unbelievably good. He’s different class
— Tris Weavers (@TrisWeavers) December 29, 2020
🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
— 🧽🇮🇪 (@ColoUndercover) December 30, 2020
Roony said after the game that he felt it was a result that had been coming.
It is just one defeat in eight for the Rams, who have recorded three victories and conceded just three goals in that time.
The victory at St. Andrews was the biggest away from home since the 4-0 at the same ground back in 2014 under Steve McLaren.
The result lifts Derby out of the bottom three for the first time in two months, and confidence will be soaring ahead of Friday’s crunch game against managerless Sheffield Wednesday.