A plucky ten man Derby County fell to defeat on Monday night as two first half goals saw Tottenham Hotspur claim all three points at Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium.

The damage was done inside the first 30 minutes of the Premier League 2 Division 1 outing as Kyle Walker-Peters broke the deadlock and Shayon Harrison doubled the advantage with a smart finish.Moments before the half hour mark, the mountain the Rams had to climb got steeper as Kyron Stabana was given his marching orders for collecting a second yellow card in the space of a few minutes.Naturally, the hosts controlled large periods of the second half, but aside from another finish that was chalked off for the offside, Derby’s goal was rarely threatened.A comfortable ending to the game for sure, but this meeting started tentatively and could have been so different had Darren Wassall’s side made the most of a glorious opportunity they had to take the lead.Charles Vernam looked destined to notch his tenth goal of the season after robbing Anton Walkes of the ball, leaving him with just Pau López to beat, but he sent his effort wide of the far post.At the other end, Henrich Ravas was busy early doors and made a routine save to deny Joe Pritchard’s fierce drive on five minutes. The hosts had edged the opening stages and capped off their stronger start by scoring the important first goal.Walker-Peters, a constant nuisance down the right, scored in the reverse of this meeting back in August and repeated the trick in Stevenage as he dispossessed Timi Max Elsnik deep inside Derby territory.The young full back held the Slovenian midfielder off and advanced into the penalty area, creating enough room to hit a low drive towards goal that was saved by Ravas, but the ball looped over the goalkeeper and crept over the line.Derby seemed to respond well – passing the ball with ease as they pulled Spurs one way then the other.López was kept busy as Derby won a series of corners, but no clear-cut openings were carved out as the half approached its midway point.Spurs struck again, however, and the second came on 26 minutes and was the result of a great passage of play. Ryan Loft did the damage down the right, skipping past a Derby challenger before delivering a teasing centre that was cutely finished by Harrison into the far corner of the goal.The evening got worse for the visitors three minutes later.Stabana had been shown a yellow for an earlier foul on Connor Ogilivie, but the Rams’ full back hauled the same man down midway inside visitors’ half and was duly given his marching orders.Pritchard was particularly unlucky not to add his name to the scoresheet and passed up several opportunities, including a guilt-edged one on four minutes when the woodwork came to the visitors’ rescue on two occasions.Loft was the first to be denied as his cross shot cannoned off Ravas’ far post and bounced to the feet of Pritchard, who cracked his follow up on to the crossbar – a big let off for Derby, who were left with a glimmer of hope going into the second 45 minutes.After reshuffling to a solid 4-4-1 system, the Rams plucked away with every man, bar Vernam, behind the ball to keep Spurs at bay at Stevenage, their efforts meaning Ravas’ goal was very rarely troubled.The backline threw their bodies in front of everything – a trait that was shown early doors as Harrison threatened a third goal, but saw an effort turned behind for a corner.Tom Carroll, a one-time for Derby loanee, saw a lot of the ball in midfield and chanced his arm on several occasions, but did not have the beating of Ravas, who claimed and dealt with everything that came his way.On the occasions they were allowed to venture forward, Wassall’s men got themselves into promising situations, but failed to seriously threaten López’s goal.Alex Babos shot off target shortly after the hour mark, showing great imagination to flick the ball over a defender’s head and take a shot on his left foot, but he screwed it wide and over.In the end, it was a comfortable, and vital, win for the hosts at Stevenage, despite the plucky efforts of Derby.López, Walker-Peters, Ogilvie, Amos (C), Walkes, Maghoma, Pritchard (Goddard, 72), Carroll, Loft (Oteh, 88), Harrison, Stylianides (Muscatt, 84)GloverRavas, Stabana, Rawson, Lelan, Macdonald, Elsnik, Guy, Santos (Cover, 79); Gordon (Jakobsen, 68), Babos (Walker, 68), VernamBarnes, EdwardsTweets by @ dcfcofficial