Derby County remain outside the Championship playoff zone on goal difference, despite battling back to earn a 1-1 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The promotion-chasing Rams had to hold on for a point in the end, as the Cottagers were again left frustrated on home soil in a match that they will argue they should have won.

Fulham are now unbeaten in eight matches here against Derby, with six of those finishing all square, but their failure to pick up all three points means that they are stuck down in 17th place.

The first real chance of the evening fell the way of Floyd Ayite, who forced Scott Carson into making a big stop at the end of Oliver Norwood's delivery.

Fulham were just about the side on top in the opening quarter of the match, but that Ayite header was the closest either team came to scoring prior to Norwood's breakthrough strike on the half-hour mark.

The Brighton & Hove Albion loanee lofted a free kick over the wall and past the reach of Carson, who appeared to be a little unsighted as the ball floated past him.

Not a great deal separated the sides in a first half of few chances, and Derby will therefore feel that they merited their goal when it arrived through a fine Vydra finish shortly after the restart.

Wales international Tom Lawrence, fresh on the back of netting against Panama earlier this week, danced past a couple of players and slipped the ball through for his teammate to bury it home.

David Button was needed to deny David Nugent from a promising position soon after, as County looked for a quick-fire second, while up the other end of the field Luca de la Torre should have done better with his headed chance.

There was a real end-to-end feel to the match as it wore on, with Chris Baird doing well to deny Ryan Sessegnon on the line, and it was the Cottagers who ended the contest on top.

Derby had to dig deep at the end with some frantic defending, seeing the job through to put their disappointing 4-2 loss against Reading last time out behind them.