TWO-GOAL Darren Bent stepped off the bench to fire Derby level on points with leaders Bournemouth – and leave Rovers facing the very real prospect of seeing their season peter out by the end of January.

Gary Bowyer’s side kept the high-flying Rams at bay until the on-loan Aston Villa striker was introduced midway through the second half.

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And his double strike means Rovers, who lost Tom Cairney, top-scorer Rudy Gestede and captain Grant Hanley to injuries, will go into their final match of the month still a massive 11 points behind the play-offs.

They have now failed to win any of their last five Championship outings and you have to go back to October 25 for the last time they won away from home in the league.

For the second game running Rovers boss Bowyer raised eyebrows with his team selection.

Gestede and Jordan Rhodes again started on the bench as Josh King retained his place as reward for his livewire showing in the FA Cup win over Swansea City.

But surprisingly Shane Duffy was dropped to make way for captain Hanley in spite of his man-of-the-match performance against the Swans.

With King given the task of leading the line it quickly became apparent that Rovers intended to put men behind the ball and frustrate their high-flying opponents.

And it is a plan that worked to perfection for 45 minutes as, despite enjoying 63 per cent of the possession, Derby failed to trouble the recalled Jason Steele in the opening period.

The closest they came to breaking the deadlock before the break came in the fifth minute.

A corner broke to Will Hughes and, with Rovers backing off, the midfielder sent a shot whistling past Steele’s right-hand post.

Jamie Ward, who was on target along with Hughes in the Rams’ 3-2 win at Ewood Park in September, and Simon Dawkins then sent efforts flying over the bar.

But as the half wore on Rovers began to offer more of an attacking threat with Corry Evans, King and Craig Conway all having shots blocked before they could concern Lee Grant.

But the former Burnley goalkeeper was called into action in the 43rd minute when he got down to his left to turn aside a dipping volley from Conway.

Two minutes earlier Cairney limped off, to be replaced by Gestede.

And the 13-goal striker was straight into the thick of the action at the start of the second half, heading a cross from Markus Olsson well wide, and then flicking a Conway free kick into the path of Hanley who, from a near impossible angle, skewed the ball over.

It proved to be one of Gestede’s final acts before he too came off injured with Chris Brown, and not Rhodes, his replacement.

Moments earlier Steele had made his first save of the night, a good one too, to deny Ryan Shotton after a Hughes free kick fell to him.

Immediately after Rams boss Steve McClaren brought on Bent for Dawkins.

And within five minutes of his arrival the England international had ended Rovers’ resistance.

A long Shotton throw criminally was allowed to reach the back post where Bent got enough of a touch on the ball to nudge it past Steele.

But Rovers would have restored parity within seven minutes if it had not been for Grant, who produced a stunning stop to deny Brown.

Then it was the turn of the Rams to go close, through leading marksman Chris Martin, before Rhodes came on for the stricken Hanley.

Rovers had to throw caution to the wind and in the fourth minute of injury time they were caught, Bent tapping home from virtually on the goal line after Steele saved at point-blank range from Martin.

It hauled Derby up to second in the standings and sealed their first home victory over their opponents since August 2001.