Derby County were beaten 2-0 by automatic promotion chasing Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoon.
Conor Chaplin scored early in the first-half and George Hirst made sure of the result when he fired home with 15 minutes to go.
Ipswich started the better of the two sides and forced Derby into a few errors from the off, Eiran Cashin picking up a yellow card after just two minutes when he brought down Wes Burns.
The visitors took a deserved lead on 17 minutes through their top scorer, Chaplin. Nathan Broadhead played a lovely cross-field ball to Burns who headed it down into the path of the striker who made no mistake - finishing low past Joe Wildsmith.
Ipswich looked threatening every time they moved the ball forward and Harry Clarke was next to have a go from long-range but his shot was well saved by Wildsmith.
Derby's first real flurry of play in the Tractor Boys' half very nearly resulted in a goal. James Collins did brilliantly to work a yard of space and he drilled a cross-shot across the face of goal which was almost bundled into his own net by the defender.
The Rams missed a brilliant chance to equalise right on the stroke of half-time. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing got away from his man down the right and whipped a delightful ball into the back post for David McGoldrick who could only head against the side-netting from a tight angle.
Derby started brilliantly after the break and thought they'd equalised in the opening minutes through Cashin. A corner was whipped in by Mendez-Laing and the defender headed down into the bottom corner but referee Anthony Backhouse signalled for a free-kick to the visitors and the goal was ruled out.
Ipswich had a shout for a penalty when Chaplin burst through on goal and went down after a tangle of legs with Craig Forsyth but the referee immediately waved away appeals.
But the Tractor Boys did double their advantage with 15 minutes to go. Wildsmith did fantastically to deny Burns who was through one-on-one but George Hirst was first to follow up and fired into the top corner to give the Rams a near impossible mountain to climb.
Seven additional minutes were signalled and Paul Warne's men continued to push but to no avail.
The result leaves the Rams on 64 points in Sky Bet League One.
Attendance: 29,691 (3,145 Ipswich Town supporters)
Derby County: Wildsmith (GK), Forsyth, Cashin, Bird (C) (69' Hourihane), Collins (69' Dobbin), McGoldrick, Mendez-Laing, Smith (78' White), Roberts, Rooney (69' Barkhuizen), Knight (78' Sibley)
Substitutes not used: McGee (GK), Sibley, White, Davies
Ipswich Town: Walton (GK), Morsy (C), Woolfenden, Burns, Chaplin, Burgess, Leigh, Luongo (88' Ball), Hirst (78' Ladapo), Broadhead (70' Harness), Clarke (70' Donacien)
Substitutes not used: Hladky (GK), Jackson, Edwards
The Rams return to action on Good Friday when they travel to Gloucestershire to take on Forest Green Rovers (3pm kick-off).
