Taylor strike seals rare win for Rams

Lee Morris scored early and Ian Taylor late as Derby County beat Burnley 2-0 at Pride Park. It was the Rams' first win in eight matches, and lifted them out of the Nationwide First Division relegation zone.

George Burley's side went ahead after 20 minutes when Taylor's pass set Morris free to run at Brian Jensen and beat the Clarets' keeper with a low shot. After the interval, the Clarets fought to get back into the game, with Glen Little influential, but in the third minute of injury time they had Arthur Gnohere sent off after a tussle with Daniele Dichio.

Stan Ternent will ask referee Uriah Rennie to reconsider his decision. "Arthur was not the last defender, and that was the reason he was sent off," the manager said.

Still the drama wasn't over. Minutes later, Morris was brought down in the box and Taylor made the three points safe with a firm penalty kick. Last weekend, the Rams had lost a two-goal lead. "The key today was we did not make the individual mistakes," Burley said. "We hung in there and got the three points. We can now build on that."

In the Second Division, Barnsley moved into the auto-matic promotion places after their 2-0 defeat of Tranmere at Oakwell, Isaiah Rankin and, from the penalty spot, Dean Gorre scoring.

In the play-off places, Colchester United moved up to fourth after a 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Layer Road. Port Vale, 1-0 winners over Notts County, and Hartlepool, who beat Rushden & Diamonds 2-1, move into the top six because Brighton and Bournemouth lost at home to Bristol City and Peterborough United respectively.

Leon McKenzie's 10th goal of the season got Posh off to a flying start at Dean Court as Barry Fry's team won 2-1, while Danny Wilson's Robins crushed Brighton 4-1 at the Withdean Stadium.

At the bottom, Tony Adams, after last week's encouraging FA Cup defeat of Swindon, got his first taste of League action as manager of Wycombe. It was bitter. They lost 2-1 to Brentford at Adams Park, Jay Tabb's 90th-minute winner leaving them rooted to the foot of the table.

The Third Division leaders, Hull City, lost 3-0 at Hudders-field Town and Doncaster Rovers also slipped up, going down 1-0 at York City. Mark Rawle grabbed a late equaliser for Oxford United at Cambridge United, the point from the 1-1 draw keeping them in third place.

Mansfield Town crept into the automatic promotion places, but they did have the easiest task of the day, a trip to the bottom club, Carlisle United. They won 2-0.

In the Conference, Alex Smith's goal gave the leaders, Chester City, a 1-0 win over Barnet, who slipped to fourth.