Darren Bent stars in Derby County victory over Blackpool

Darren Bent scored twice as Derby County picked up three crucial points in their bid to secure a playoff spot by beating relegated Blackpool 4-0 at the iPro Stadium this evening.

The lead belonged to the hosts inside three minutes as Craig Bryson took full advantage of the space on offer from 25 yards, unleashing a low effort which crept past Elliot Parish on the way to finding the bottom corner.

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Parish may have been disappointed to allow the shot to beat him, but he produced a fine save just a few moments later to keep out a powerful strike from Simon Dawkins.

However, the Blackpool goalkeeper could not prevent the hosts from dominating the exchanges in the first half, and Derby doubled their lead when an unmarked Tom Ince collected a pass from Ryan Shotton before curling home.

Derby pulled further ahead less than a minute later as Bent intercepted a sloppy pass from Charles Dunne to beat a helpless Parish.

Steve McClaren's side should have scored a fourth early in the second half, but Jesse Lingard somehow managed to send a shot over from close range after Parish had blocked Ince's effort.

Blackpool were unable to offer much resistance, and a foolish challenge on Shotton from Andrea Orlandi allowed Bent to score his fourth with an emphatic penalty.

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Bent came close to completing his hat-trick when he sprinted away from the visiting defence once again, but his deflected strike drifted just past the post.

Lingard missed another chance late on following good work from Stephen Warnock as Derby cruised to just their second win of the last 10 matches.