John Brayford, Gareth Roberts and James Bailey made their débuts in a 2–1 win, with Rob Hulse and Kris Commons scoring their first goals of the season as Derby inflicted Leeds first opening day defeat for 21 years and recorded only their second win at Elland Road in 35 years. The win was followed by a 1–0 defeat away to League Two side Crewe Alexandra in the League Cup First Round, the club's second successive defeat by a lower league side in the competition's opening stage, and saw injuries to Russell Anderson and Chris Porter weaken the Rams squad further. They were later joined by Ryan Connolly, who was ruled out for six months with a cruciate knee ligament injury incurred during an Under-18's friendly. Luke Varney, who was linked with another loan spell away from the club, made a shock return to the first team line-up after a year when Rob Hulse was ruled out for the home game against Cardiff City, leaving Varney as the only available striker on the books. Although Varney laid on Derby's goal for Tomasz Cwyka, the club fell to a second consecutive defeat as Cardiff ran out 2–1 winners. Despite being the sole forward fully fit and available, Varney was left out of the trip to Coventry City, to prevent a risk of injury ahead of a proposed loan move to an unidentified club. Left-back Dean Moxey was employed as a lone striker and scored his first for the club as it fell to another 2–1 defeat. After the match, it was revealed that Varney had joined Premier League club Blackpool on a season long deal, with a view to a £500k permanent move. The month's fixtures finished with a visit from league leaders Queens Park Rangers. Derby took a 2–0 lead, with James Bailey scoring his first for the club to add to Kris Commons opener, before QPR scored twice in second half injury time to snatch a 2–2 draw. It was the second consecutive season in which QPR had come from two down to claim a result at Pride Park Stadium, after recovering from two down to win 4–2 at Derby the previous campaign. Bailey's performance say him earn a place in the Football League Championship Team of the Week, the first Derby player to do so in the 2010–11 campaign. With the end of the transfer window approaching, Derby took Adelaide United youngster Alex Sunasky on trial and registered loan bids for W.B.A. striker Chris Wood, Real Valladolid's Alberto Bueno and long term target, Everton forward James Vaughan.