DERBY County trail rivals Nottingham Forest 1-0 at half-time in their Championship encounter at Pride Park Stadium.
Chris Cohen's goal just after the half-hour mark currently separates the two sides
Jamie Ward and Craig Bryson both made their return to the Derby starting line-up.
Ward was making his first start since the end of September, when he suffered a torn hamstring - coincidentally against Forest at the City Ground.
Bryson, meanwhile, had missing the previous four games due to a knee injury.
As a result of the two changes, Ben Davies and Kieron Freeman dropped to the bench.
Will Hughes was passed fit to play after being forced out of last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Brighton with a back problem.
John Brayford, who was deployed in midfield against Brighton, reverted to his regular position of right-back.
Forest boss Alex McLeish made one change to his side, with defender Danny Collins returning from suspension in place of Dan Harding.
Derby started brightly and put the visitors under some early pressure.
Bryson fired a speculative effort wide and when the midfielder was fouled just outside the area, Ward's free kick was deflected, off the wall, just past the post.
Forest responded by carving out two good chances.
The first, in the 14th minute, stemmed from Richard Keogh misjudging a high ball down the middle and ended with Simon Cox smashing a shot against the crossbar, with Mark O'Brien eventually clearing the danger.
Moments later, Cox was released on the right and his cut-back found the advancing full-back, Gonzalo Jara Reyes, who blazed over from a promising position.
At the other end, Forest keeper Karl Darlow had to beat away a deflected Gareth Roberts cross as Conor Sammon prepared to pounce.
Then, on the half-hour, Paul Coutts fired wide from a difficult angle after combining with Sammon down the right.
Forest went ahead in the 31st minute.
Billy Sharp's cross from the right reached Cohen, whose initial volley was miscued but fell kindly for him to side-foot past Adam Legzdins from eight yards.
In search of an equaliser, Brayford surged forward and drove a shot wide from outside the box.
And just before the interval, Ward curled a 20-yard effort narrowly wide after exchanging passes with Sammon.
