Four second half goals saw Derby County fall to a 4-1 defeat to a rampant Manchester City side in their penultimate away fixture of their maiden Premier League 2 Division 1 season.

Emil Riis Jakobsen’s rich vein of form in front of goal continued as his cool finish opened the scoring and capped off a terrific first half display from Darren Wassall’s men.The Citizens, though, responded in brutal fashion as Thierry Ambrose, Rodney Kongolo and Lukas Nmecha struck inside 11 minutes, before Calum Macdonald put through his own net to add salt to the wounds.Ultimately, this was a story of contrasting halves for the Rams in Manchester.Alex Babos said prior to trip to the Academy Stadium that the Rams were eager to get going again after more than three weeks without a game.And that certainly looked to be the case over a dominant first half showing against City, who came into this game with a slim chance of lifting the Premier League 2 title.Jakobsen, the in-form Danish striker, registered two early shots before he eventually scored, the first of which was saved by the chest of the City goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw, whilst the other was placed wide.The Citizens might have seen more of the ball, but it was Derby that continued to create the chances, as they forced their hosts into multiple errors with their intense pressing game.Kellan Gordon tried his luck on two occasions, firing in a shot on goal from the edge of the area, which Grimshaw again was equal to, before the wideman fired over after pinching back possession midway inside the hosts’ half.Derby’s persistence paid off and they duly broke the deadlock with the contest approached the half hour mark as Jakobsen’s hot streak in front of goal continued.From Alex Babos’ defence splitting pass, the Danish forward was away and surged towards goal, holding off his man as he did so, before keeping a cool head to beat Grimshaw at his near post.It could have been very different a minute later as the excellent Kelle Roos preserved that lead after showing great anticipation to rush out of his goal and thwart Ambrose, who had escaped into the area.That aside, the Rams picked up where they left and were unfortunate not to go into the break with a two-goal advantage after Jakobsen took aim from 20-yards, but saw his effort cannon off the Grimshaw’s post.There was always going to be a reaction from such a quality Manchester City side over the second 45 minutes and that proved to be the case here.Simon Davies signalled his discontent by making a double change and from there, his side were rampant, particularly over the first 15 minutes.Roos, the Rams’ goalkeeper, had already made two big saves within the first couple of minutes to deny Sancho and Nmecha, the substitute, but the inevitable came and City got back on level terms.From an inswinging free kick, the Dutch shot stopper pulled off another fine stop, but the loose ball was bundled into the path of Ambrose, who managed to squeeze the ball in from seemingly the tightest of angles.Three minutes later and they edged in front. The lively Brahim Diaz was, again, at the heart of the move as he raced through the middle, before playing a delicate pass into the feet of Kongolo, who dinked a shot over Roos and into the back of the net, via the help of the crossbar.The third goal was the body blow in this game. It came just as Wassall’s men appeared to be finding their feet and minutes after Grimshaw had pulled off a fine save to deny Babos’ drive from the edge of the area and the visitors had also been denied a penalty shout, after Macdonald appeared to be kicked inside the area.Jadon Sancho took charge this time, as he created enough room to pick out Nmecha lurking on the right and the substitute made no mistake with his side-foot finish, placing it across Roos and into the far corner of the goal.The Citizens were comfortable after that and also looked the most likely to add to the scoreline.A moment of genius nearly saw Ambrose grab his second of the night as he took a diagonal cross from Matt Smith on the chest and volleyed an effort just wide.The fourth did come, however, on the cusp of added time as Sancho escaped into the area and pulled a left-wing cross into the six-yard box that the recovering Macdonald could only divert into his own goal as the Rams fell to a second straight Premier League 2 defeat.Grimshaw, Humphreys, Adarabioyo, Davenport, Smith, Kongolo (C), Buckley-Ricketts (Nmecha, 46), Fernandes (Diallo, 46), Ambrose (Dilrosun, 85), Diaz, SanchoOliver, HaugRoos, Santos, Bateman (Wassall, 55), Macdonald, Lowe (C); Bird (Karic, 74), Elsnik, Babos (Thomas, 83); Gordon, Cresswell, JakobsenRavas, CoverTweets by @ dcfcofficial