The Royals put in a performance to be proud of as they swept the Rams aside with relative ease. James Harper curled home to hand the Royals a deserved half-time lead before Dave Kitson, Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita made it a second-half rout.

However, their efforts were to prove in vain as Fulham's victory at Portsmouth ensured Steve Coppell's men will join Derby and Birmingham in the second tier next season by virtue of goal difference.

It was tough on the visitors, who were a class above their opponents throughout.

Skipper Graeme Murty, John Oster and Marek Matejovsky were returned for Reading, while David Jones, Emanuel Villa, Mile Sterjovski and Lewin Nyatanga were restored to the relegated Rams' starting line-up.

And within five minutes the Royals had a clear chance to take the lead.

Matejovsky dispossessed Hossam Ghaly in midfield and sent Lita clean through but the striker got caught in two minds and County goalkeeper Roy Carroll was out swiftly to smother.

Coppell's side had gone six games without a goal coming into the game and were left to rue another missed opportunity three minutes later when Matejovsky's low drive flashed beyond the far post.

It appeared only a matter of time until the deadlock would be broken and the goal duly arrived after 15 minutes.

Kitson unselfishly laid the ball off to Harper on the right edge of the area and the Royals midfielder bent a delightful curling effort into the top-left corner.

Two minutes later the advantage should have been doubled and, not for the first time, Lita was the guilty party.

Kitson was again the creator, this time crossing from the left wing for the unmarked England under-21 international in the penalty area, but his sloppy touch enabled the Rams to recover.

The Rams, now officially the worst team in Premier League history, certainly lived up to their billing.

It was not until the 40th minute that they mustered an effort on the visitors' goal, Marcus Hahnemann down quickly to push Jones' 25-yard drive around the post.

Considering the sweltering conditions it was no surprise the Royals failed to maintain the high tempo set in the early stages but they rarely looked troubled at the back against a Derby side in need of one more goal to avoid adding the tag of outright lowest scorers in Premier League history to their string of unwanted records.

Rams skipper Robbie Savage and Sterjovski were replaced on the resumption by Benny Feilhaber and Marc Edworthy as Jewell attempted to swing the game in his side's favour.

It almost had the desired impact when American midfielder Feilhaber's header looped inches over the crossbar in the 52nd minute.

Yet not for the first time this season County were made to pay for defensive ill-discipline after Villa fouled Murty on the right touchline in the 60th minute.

Stephen Hunt squared the resulting free-kick to Nicky Shorey on the edge of the area and Carroll could only palm the left-back's shot out to his left.

Unfortunately for him Lita was lurking and he squared the ball to the unmarked Kitson at the back post to leave his strike partner with the simplest of finishes.

He was swiftly replaced by Doyle and soon the Republic of Ireland international had a goal of his own when he prodded into the bottom-left corner from close range - earning a booking for his celebrations.

With the game now well and truly won the visitors were quite happy to hold onto possession as their fans began to dream of a fairytale survival story.

However, the celebrations were soon silenced when news filtered through of Fulham taking a late lead at Portsmouth.

As for County, they have now become only the second team in the history of English football to win just once in an entire league season - the first was Loughborough College 108 seasons ago.

They almost gave their supporters a rare reason for cheer when Jones fired narrowly over the crossbar in the closing stages.

But it was the Royals who had the final say.

Lita grabbed the goal his efforts had deserved in the stoppage time with a diving header at the near post but it was not enough to prevent his side joining County in the Coca-Cola Championship next season.