Derby suffered back-to-back defeats as they were beaten by 1-0 Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Saturday. 

The Rams had come back from the November international break with confidence having picked up four points from games against automatic promotion contenders Bournemouth and Fulham.

However, they struggled coming up against QPR earlier this week and were beaten late on by an Andre Gray wonder goal and were comfortably beaten by Bristol City on Saturday.

Over the last two games, Derby seem to have struggled to create good quality chances and Daniel Bentley appeared to have a very quiet Saturday having been untested throughout.

Despite dominating possession, Wayne Rooney's side just couldn't find the breakthrough and were well beaten by Nigel Pearson's side.

Let’s look at one winner and one loser coming out of the defeat at Ashton Gate yesterday for Derby.

Loser - Colin Kazim-Richards

Soccer Football - Championship - Derby County v Huddersfield Town - Pride Park, Derby, Britain - August 7, 2021 Derby County's Colin Kazim-Richards reacts as he misses a chance to score Action Images/Craig Brough

The experienced target man has been used frequently off the bench since his return from a serious achilles injury he sustained against Peterborough in August.

Since his return to the side in mid-October, the forward has started just once and has been used sparingly despite Derby's shyness in front of goal.

He's shown in the games he's played he can make an impact. He grabbed the assist for Tom Lawrence's equaliser against Bournemouth for example and has made huge contributions to other games.

However, with Rooney preferring to use Tom Lawrence as a false 9, it means that Kazim-Richards is resigned to making impactful appearances from the bench.

Derby certainly could do with his hold-up play as he can allow the Rams to build attacks and get the likes of Tom Lawrence, Jason Knight, and Festy Ebosele on the ball in dangerous areas.

But if Rooney continues to persist with the false 9, Colin Kazim-Richards will continue to be a casualty of that.

Winner - Luke Plange

Soccer Football - Championship - Derby County v AFC Bournemouth - Pride Park, Derby, Britain - November 21, 2021 General view outside the stadium before the match Molly Darlington/Action Images

Youngster Luke Plange was brought into the squad for the Bristol City game after his fine form for the under 23's.

Plange is the under 23's top scorer this season having arrived from Arsenal in the summer after impressing on trial and has seemingly done enough to convince Rooney he can contribute to the Rams' season.

Plange was only able to play after positive talks with the EFL allowing Derby to register another player and he did have an impact in the game against Bristol City.

Despite not scoring, he did show on a number of occasions he can be a dangerous player and will seemingly benefit from Derby's lack of striking options, with some more first-team experience moving forward.