IF Blackburn needed to stage a demonstration of exactly why they need Andy Cole, they could hardly have put on a better show.

Despite dominating in terms of territory and possession, and creating several dangerous situations against Derby, they were punished - as they have been several times this season - by a poorer side.

Rovers' Matt Jansen is a good forward but is not a born finisher, and they desperately need one.

And while Malcolm Christie may be a poor man's version of a goal poacher, his first-half strike was enough for Derby to record their first away victory in the Premiership this season.

Derby threatened to ruin Blackburn's day as early as the third minute when Fabrizio Ravanelli and Benito Carbone combined to give Christie a glimpse of the target, but Craig Short anticipated the danger and stepped in to divert the Rams striker's prodded shot away from goal.

Short came to the rescue again to block Christie soon afterwards, but the rest of the half was almost all Blackburn.

Jansen drove a free-kick from 25 yards into the wall and in Rovers' next attack embarked on a classy dribble, but his finish lacked the same quality and he could only toe-poke wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Rovers stepped up the tempo with Tugay at the heart of most of their good moves and in the 24th minute Keith Gillespie's neat step-over fooled Horacio Carbonari, and he played Lucas Neill down the line for the Australian full-back to bend over a tempting cross.

Egil Ostenstad met the ball with an elaborate dive, but too elaborate perhaps because the Norwegian thumped his header several yards wide.

Jansen then had the ball in the net after Damien Duff's cute back-heel but Blackburn were denied by the linesman's flag, though the offside decision looked tight.

Blackburn wasted another free-kick, Jansen again striking the wall once more, before the striker crossed to the far post where Garry Flitcroft won a header only for Chris Riggott to clear off the line.

With so much domination without scoring, it could perhaps have been predicted that Rovers would go behind and so it proved with five minutes of the half remaining.

Carbone found Christie in space in the middle of the Blackburn half of the pitch and he raced forward, sent Henning Berg the wrong way, and then cut into the box to finish low to Friedel's left for his fourth goal of the season.

Three minutes into the second half, a superb run into the penalty area by, of all people, Short, was ended by Chris Riggott's trip.

Perhaps a cannier player might have gone down straight away but Short managed to stumble on for a couple of yards, enough to persuade referee David Pugh not to award a penalty.

Rovers had Friedel to thank two minutes later when Danny Higginbotham's lobbed pass found Christie in the clear.

He attempted to chip Friedel but the American keeper managed to get a hand to the ball to tip clear of the crossbar.

Ostenstad blazed wide wildly after a Blackburn corner and it was no surprise when he was substituted with half-an-hour remaining.

The surprise was that Martin Taylor, an England Under-21 centre-half came on in his place rather than David Dunn, and played in attack.

Neill was the next to try his luck for Blackburn, but his shot from 20 yards was blocked, and, though he then found Gillespie, the Northern Ireland winger's volley was some way off-target.

With 16 minutes left Ravanelli just failed to get his head to Carbone's volley, and the ball fell to Christie who bobbled a shot just wide of the post.

Dunn finally came off the bench, and he and Gillespie were both denied by Mart Poom as Rovers went all out for goal.

The gaps were opening up though, and Christie found himself in another one-on-one with Friedel, but his shot was blocked by the keeper's legs.

It was misery in the end for Blackburn.