Derby County 3 Doncaster Rovers 0: Rovers stuck in reverse gear as Rams celebrate cracking start

“Goals dictate results but we’ve always concentrated on performances and I thought in the first half we were in second gear and in the second we were in reverse,” he said.

“It’s disappointing because it’s the first time this season we haven’t come off the pitch thinking we deserved something.

“But credit to Derby, they worked harder than us and although there was nothing outstanding in the game from either team, they worked harder and if you do that in this division you get your rewards.

“I’ve said all along that if we can’t compete in this division we shouldn’t be in it, so whether we have got injuries or we haven’t got injuries we have never used that as an excuse and we are not going to start now.

“There are certain aspects of playing football in this division that you need to do and we didn’t get anywhere near that.”

Doncaster had won on their three previous league visits to Pride Park, but any chance of adding to that had been in doubt from the moment Kevin Kilbane, on loan from Hull, arrived to head home from Ben Davies’s sixth-minute corner.

O’Driscoll’s team had their share of possession for the rest of the half but, with Billy Sharp and James Hayter missing, they lacked a cutting edge up front.

That could not be said for Derby, who were heading for a place in the club’s history books once Steve Davies pounced 17 seconds after the restart.

Ben Davies took advantage of a slip just outside the area and delivered a pinpoint cross which his namesake headed back across goal and inside Gary Woods’s right-hand post.

Any chance Doncaster had of getting back into the match vanished in the 62nd minute when Ben Davies rounded off an excellent afternoon’s work with the third goal.

John Brayford played the ball in and when Steve Davies challenged in the air, it broke to the midfielder, who curled a shot past Woods from the edge of the area.

Derby manager Nigel Clough applauded his team’s work ethic and effort after the Rams celebrated their best start to a season for 106 years.

“It’s totally down to the hard work from the players. The effort they have put in in the first four league games has been excellent.”

Derby County: Fielding, Brayford, O’Brien, Shackell, Kilbane, Bryson (Maguire 86), Bailey, Hendrick, B Davies, Ward (Croft 25), S Davies (Robinson 68). Unused substitutes: Legzdins, Roberts.

Doncaster Rovers: G Woods, Dumbuya (Hird 85), Naylor, Friend, Spurr, R Brown (Bennett 61), Gillett, Oster, Lalkovic, C Brown (Wilson 75), Barnes. Unused substitutes: Sullivan, Baxendale.

Referee: O Langford (W Midlands).

Man of the match: Ben Davies.