Nahki Wells has notched his 21st goal of the season, and sixth in a Huddersfield Town shirt, with a fourteenth-minute right-foot strike that gave the West Yorkshire side an early lead against Derby County at the iPro Stadium before slumping to trail 3-1 with 20 minutes left.

Derby, who entered the day in third place in the Sky Bet Championship, but slipped to fourth after Queens Park Rangers crushed Nottingham Forest 5-2 with a late flourish in the early kick-off, equalised through Johnny Russell in the 28th minute.

Wells, full of confidence after ending nearly a two-month goalless drought between his first and second goals for Huddersfield, almost got himself on the scoresheet again, but was denied by the sharp reactions of Lee Grant, the Derby and former England Under-21 goalkeeper.

Steve McLaren, the Derby and former England head coach, would point to Grant as the difference between three points and the mountain to climb over having to overcome a two-goal deficit at home.

The game’s turning point came 15 minutes either side of half-time: two minutes before the break, Joel Lynch, the Huddersfield defender, was sent off for a second bookable offence, his caution for time-wasting in the early exchanges having been more than avoidable. Midfielder Adam Hamill was sacrificed in a tactical substitution to get Tommy Smith on the park, but Derby struck in the 50th minute when Alex Smithies, the goalkeeper, was credited with an own goal when he palmed a Craig Forsyth cross into the Huddersfield net.

Bad turned to worse seven minutes later when Peter Clarke was sent off for denying Will Hughes a clear opportunity at goal. Chris Martin stepped up to convert the penalty and, suddenly, Huddersfield were two goals and two men down, with what started as a dream day for Wells turning into a bit of a nightmare.

The Bermudian, increasingly isolated up front, was withdrawn 17 minutes from time but the damage was done and Derby played out the clock without further addition to the score.

Huddersfield remain essential in no man’s land in the division — a distance away from the promotion play-off race in seventeenth place, but reasonably safe at six points clear of the relegation places with four matches left.