George's double joy

George could have had more than two

Ipswich Town 3-1 Derby County

Two goals from Finidi George on his home debut inspired Ipswich to victory against Derby.

The £3.1m winger was the scourge of 10-man Derby throughout at Portman Road and was only denied a hat-trick by the performance of Rams goalkeeper Mart Poom.

Nigerian George's two goals were sandwiched inbetween Richard Naylor's effort for Ipswich as they secured their first Premierhsip win of the season.

Derby had Brian O'Neil sent-off when they trailed by a goal.

Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli scored a late goal for the visitors, but it was little consolation in a match in which they were out-played.

George opened his Premiership account after 14 minutes when he received a pass from Matt Holland before calmly slotting in with a first-time shot from from 10 yards.

Derby's cause was not helped when O'Neil got his marching orders after a second yellow card for a foul on Martijn Reuser.

Holland set up George's first

Only Mart Poom's efforts in the Derby goal kept the score respectable but he could not keep out striker Richard Naylor's near post flick from Reuser's cross.

Derby boss Jim Smith sought to relieve the pressure at the back by sacrificing Darryl Powell in midfield and sending on Deon Burton in a three-pronged attack.

Almost immediately, Ravanelli failed to connect with Malcolm Christie's cross after a neat breakaway.

But Ipswich continued to dominate and the busy Poom was called upon again on the hour in order to keep out a Reuser shot.

Poom's resistance was again broken when George scored with a diving header following Reuser's cross.

Ravanelli's scored with a cool finish across goal for Derby after 84 minutes but it provided little solace for the visitors.

Ipswich: Sereni, Makin, Clapham, Hreidarsson, Bramble, Holland, Wright, George, Reuser, Naylor, Stewart. Subs: Branagan, Wilnis, Armstrong, Counago, Brown.

Derby: Poom, Daino, Higginbotham, Riggott, Boertien, O'Neil, Powell, Burley, Johnson, Ravanelli, Christie. Subs: Oakes, Kinkladze, Burton, Murray, Morris.

Referee: E Wolstenholme (Blackburn).