Derby County’s Under 18s returned to winning ways with a 2-1 victory on Thursday afternoon - seeing off stiff competition from Middlesbrough in impressive style away from home.

In a contest that was dominated by the Rams for most of the game, it was two first-half strikes from Jahvan Davidson-Miller and Jayden Bogle, which secured the Rams their first three points in four games.In the second-half, the hosts did try to salvage something from the game and were a goal away from doing so after a deflection from Joe Bateman found its way into the back of the Rams’ net, but in the end, it was excellent game management that saw Derby secure a deserved victory.This was a contest that Justin Walker and Rory Delap’s side started brightly with the Rams almost taking the lead inside the opening two minutes after a ball down the middle entered Boro’s box. However, a superbly timed block from a defender kept the game at equal measures.As the first-half progressed, Derby’s stature continued to grow as Walker and Delap’s side mounted attack after attack, however, determined defending from the hosts left the Rams with a sense of frustration.Despite Derby’s prominence, Boro by no means looked shy on the ball and on 18 minutes they very nearly took the lead against the run of play after Anthony Renton rose highest to get his head on a corner delivery; but he could only direct his effort over the crossbar.After almost conceding, Derby reacted well and it was less than two minutes later that they took the lead following an impressive phase of attacking play.It was Jayden Mitchell-Lawson who orchestrated the move and after a string of passes also involving Max Bird and Cameron Cresswell. In the end, though, it was Davidson-Miller who put the Rams ahead, capitalising on the latter player’s spilled shot.From then on, Derby continued to grow in confidence and on 26 minutes, they created a further chance through Cresswell after he broke free into the box. His shot proved to be nothing more than routine in the end and Boro ‘keeper Zac Hemmings pushed the ball out of play.On the half-an-hour mark, the visitors did double their advantage as Bogle made it 2-0 after getting on the end of a dangerous corner-kick, which was delivered to the back post and tapped home by the attacking-minded full-back.Hard fought, the second-half lacked clear cut openings due to fierce defending from both sides, but with seven minutes remaining, Middlesbrough gave themselves a lifeline.It came following a period of dominance on the ball, which led to the hosts finding the back of the net after a shot outside of the box deflected off Bateman to beat goalkeeper Matt Yates.Middlesbrough controlled the tempo in the contest’s dying stages as they sought desperately for an equaliser, but in the end it was tactical awareness and excellent game management from the Rams, which saw them secure a deserved victory in their final Premier League North fixture of this calendar year.Hemmings, Convery, Reading, Guru, J. Cook, Renton, Holdsworth, Lambert, O’Neil, Malley, L. CookLiddle, Pears, Hegarty, Wilson, BullYates, Bogle, Bateman, Thomas, Thorne, Haywood, Mills, Bird, Mitchell-Lawson, CresswellJibodu, Fryatt, Whittaker, Rashid, WiseTweets by @ dcfcofficial