Ipswich Town 1 Derby County 0

Shared hardship failed to goad two struggling clubs into igniting the blue touch paper at Portman Road but Ipswich eventually located the pressure release valve.

Roy Keane, their under-siege manager who had presided over 14 winless Championship fixtures, broke his duck at the 15th time of asking. The Irishman, and Ipswich followers, can finally exhale.

Their hero was unlikely. Defender David Wright met Liam Rosenior’s cross in the 66th minute and steered a header past Stephen Bywater. The stadium erupted. It was soon enveloped in relief.

Substitute Tamas Priskin should have soothed the nerves when racing away late on but was denied by Bywater. The announcement of four minutes stoppage time drew groans.

Bryan Hughes, Derby’s stalwart loanee, might have brought crushing cruelty on Ipswich just as Watford’s Nathan Ellington had. Twenty thousand minds must have raced back in time.

The ball dropped to Hughes inside a panicked Ipswich box but he sliced his effort over Asmir Begovic’s bar. The final whistle brought the Bosnian’s team unadulterated liberation.

Victories for Plymouth and Reading keeps Ipswich bottom of the table but, amid euphoria, that will barely matter. Keane, though, resisted elation.

“I’m pleased. It’s nice to win football matches. We didn’t play particularly well but we won an ugly game. That’s allowed. Had we conceded another late goal, that would’ve been hard to take,” the Irishman said, barely raising a smile. Delight must have frothed underneath.

For Derby manager, Nigel Clough, there was cutting disappointment with an eighth defeat in 11 matches. An enquiry to the Football League to have this fixture postponed, with 16 senior players out, was rebuffed.

“I don’t think there’s any other club in the country without 16 first team players,” he said wearily, having named only five substitutes. “We thought we did enough (to win) but, at the moment, the little things go against us.”

His team lacked pace, width and penetration but competed ferociously in a game low on finesse but high on industry.

The contest was given a touch of theatre. Derby captain, Robbie Savage, reprised his role as pantomime villain, grabbing Alan Quinn around the neck during a tussle and drawing a caution. Howls of derision reverberated around the ground. Music to Savage’s ears. There was little to please purists’ eyes.

Begovic excelled with fine stops from Hughes and Gary Teale. Bywater repelled two thundering Alex Bruce headers as the action swung one way, then the next. Each near miss exacerbated the tension. By the finish there was a mass release of emotion.

Neil Trainis (Telegraph.co.uk)