Derby County have claimed a fourth pre-season win from five as they ran out 2-1 winners over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Pride Park on Saturday.
The hosts began brightly as David Nugent fired wide from close range after being picked out in the middle just five minutes into the game.
Neither side would threaten again until 23 minutes in, as Nugent headed wide from just inside the six-yard box and spurned another chance moments later from a Tom Lawrence cross.
Wolves then enjoyed a bright spell as Ruben Neves, Matt Doherty and Helder Costa all came close but Scott Carson was in inspired form in the Rams goal.
The breakthrough eventually came four minutes before the break through the dangerous Nugent, who followed up on Richard Keogh's saved header to rifle the ball into the back of the net on the rebound.
Both sides traded blows after the restart but Wolves eventually grabbed an equaliser as Neves's 25-yard effort was parried onto the crossbar by Carson, only for the perfectly-placed Jota to strike on the follow-up.
Nevertheless, Frank Lampard's charges rallied round and got themselves back in front on 72 minutes as Mason Mount was on hand to latch on to Nugent's flick-on and fire the ball into the roof of the net from close range.
A flurry of substitutes interrupted the flow of the game late on, but Derby controlled the latter stages for another confidence booster ahead of the Championship opener at Reading next week.
DERBY COUNTY (4-3-3): Carson; Wisdom (Bogle 84'), Keogh (Pearce, 84'), Davies, Lowe (Forsyth 79'); Bryson (Jozefzoon 63'), Ledley (Johnson 73'), Mount; Wilson, Nugent (Bennett 75'), Lawrence (Thomas 81')
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (3-4-3): Patricio (Norris 62'); Saiss (Bennett 62'), Coady, Boly; Doherty, Moutinho (Gibbs-White 45'), Neves, Jonny (Giles 62'); Costa, Bonatini (Jimenez 45'), Jota (Enobakhare 73')
Giuseppe Labellarte
