Jamie McCombe will be cast as the villain of Bristol City's defeat at Pride Park – but he was not alone.

The Bristol City central defender was clearly culpable for his 56th-minute red card following two fouls on Rob Hulse in quick succession.

However, manager Gary Johnson was quick to point out that he was not alone in being at fault for City's performance against the Championship strugglers.

Had Alvaro Saborio taken one of the two golden first-half chances created for him, and had City not allowed Gary Teale to cut through their defence for the winner, they could have left the midlands with at least a point.

However, it was a fair result as Derby spurned enough second-half opportunities to win two or three games.

Johnson conceded: "In the second half Derby put us under a bit of pressure and when you go down to 10 men, the 10 men didn't quite handle it and they got in quite a few times.

"I just felt the second half was poor. Even with 10 men you should be doing better than we did. We did drop our standard.

"We still had the four at the back and four in midfield and even though we only had one up front, you still have to defend properly.

"We were unprofessional with the sending-off and then poor in the second half."

Costa Rica striker Saborio was watched by compatriot and former Derby hero Paulo Wanchope and the now retired frontman would have fancied his chances of heading in Bradley Orr's cross in the second minute.

But Saborio nodded straight at Stephen Bywater, who held the ball at the second attempt.

Saborio could also have scored when he was sent clean through by Evander Sno, but hesitated and allowed Shaun Barker to make a sliding tackle.

"I was disappointed that we weren't 1-0 up in the first attack and then we had another chance when Saborio went through on his own," said Johnson.

"There were parts of the game I was very pleased with and we could have finished a couple of opportunities. We were getting a bit nearer to our game but we need an end product.

"In the first half we played some good football and got in with good play – not just by lumping the ball – so I was pleased with that side of our game."

Orr and Sno both shot just wide in other City attacks, but there was a sign of the indiscipline to come from McCombe as early as the 23rd minute.

The big centre-back lost possession on the edge of his own box to James Vaughan. A quick one-two with Robbie Savage gave the on-loan Everton striker a clear sight of goal, but he sliced his shot horribly wide from 10 yards.

The game's pivotal moments came 10 minutes after the break as Hulse skipped past McCombe near the by-line and was hauled down by the former Scunthorpe man.

An angry Hulse responded by throwing the ball at McCombe before the two went head to head, with the defender booked. Referee Mick Russell ignored McCombe's dramatic fall to the floor.

A minute later and Hulse exposed McCombe again and was sent flying by a desperate, late tackle.

A second yellow card and the first red of McCombe's City career was inevitable.

After that Paul Dickov (twice), Lee Croft, Vaughan and Teale all missed clear sights of goal as Derby chased a winner.

It looked as though City might have weathered the storm but Scotland international Teale took advantage of a forward run from right-back Orr to score the winner and silence the Pride Park boo-boys who had been on his case.

Teale cut in from the left flank to send a low drive inside Adriano Basso's near post. Johnson said: "He (Orr) did bomb on, but he didn't do it for the sake of it.

"He intercepted the ball and then he had to go and win the next one, and he needed to see it through but, unfortunately, he got beaten and he was out of his hole and the fella has still gone past a couple of defenders anyway.

"Teale will come inside on his right foot and we had coped with it until that point.

"We were out of position with two men down and, at this level, you get punished."

Basso could do nothing about the shot and Johnson reiterated his desire for the Brazilian to sign a new contract.

"We are at the point where the chairman (Steve Lansdown) and he have got a date where they will sit down and talk about where Basso sees his future," he said. "We have given him a bit of time and the meeting will be very soon."

But more immediately is tomorrow night's home game with Blackpool. "Every time you don't get a result, the next game becomes a more important game and that is exactly right," added Johnson.