*In-form Derby County boosted their promotion hopes with a win over play-off rivals Aston Villa.* The Rams took the lead when Glenn Whelan’s blind backpass was picked up by Matej Vydra and he teed up former Villa man Andreas Weimann. Robert Snodgrass nearly levelled at the start of the second half but Richard Keogh cleared his effort off the line. Substitute Johnny Russell secured the victory in the last minute after a good ball from Keogh. Steve Bruce’s side started the match without a recognised striker after Keinan Davis was ruled out with illness and they struggled to create throughout. The Rams, who would have scored inside the opening minute but for a superb last-ditch tackle from Neil Taylor on David Nugent, could have won by more had it not been for some fine saves from Sam Johnstone to deny Keogh and Bradley Johnson. Gary Rowett’s men, who remain fourth, have now won five of their past six games and are six points off second-placed Cardiff City. Villa remain fifth after defeat at Pride Park but are now winless in three games and just one point clear of seventh-placed Leeds. *Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce:* “From the very first minute, we put them through and didn’t really recover. We made far too many mistakes and when we really analyse it we’ll look and think, for all that we huffed and puffed, we’ve gifted them the game. “In a big game of this magnitude, the disappointing thing for me was the number of mistakes we made. We made so many it was scary and we made too many to win a football match. “Second half, I was pleased with how we played. We had enough possession but not enough shots on target: we’ve had 12 or 13 attempts but only two on target.”