DERBY battled their way to the fringes of the Championship play-off spots with their fifth win in a row after a hard-fought win against a spirited Coventry City.
Callum Ball’s excellent 75th minute strike to end a wonderful team move gave the Rams all three points and continued the 19-year-old striker’s rapid rise to prominence.
However, the Rams had goalkeeper Frank Fielding to thank after a terrific save just prior to the winner which proved to be the turning point in a closely-fought contest.
Derby now travel to fellow play-off contenders Burnley, another of the league’s form teams, who lie just a point behind the Rams in the Championship table.
Saturday’s win makes it five wins on the trot now for Derby and saw another clean sheet from their increasingly miserly defence — a fourth in five attempts.
Nigel Clough picked an unchanged starting XI from the FA Cup win against Crystal Palace, but there was both good news and bad news on the bench.
On the plus side Jeff Hendrick featured in the squad for the first time since the pre-Christmas trip to Ipswich following an ankle injury.
However striker Nathan Tyson missed out after suffering all week with a throat infection, with 15-year-old Mason Bennett replacing him.
Derby were extremely lethargic out of the blocks, too easily surrendering possession and making little impact on Joe Murphy’s goal in the first half hour.
Struggling Coventry however showed early adventure and the lively Gary McSheffrey proved a thorn in the side of the Rams defence.
He had the first chance of the game on six minutes when he shot on the turn with his often lethal left foot, but it was a comfortable save down to his right for Fielding.
Derby’s first shot on goal came on 20 minutes when Jamie Ward fired straight at Murphy from the edge of the box, before Theo Robinson came closest to putting the Rams in front with a deflected effort from a Ward corner just looping over the bar.
However, Coventry missed a chance to take a lead into half-time in the final minutes of the first period, when a quick break saw McSheffrey underhit a pass which would have left Carl Baker with just Fielding to beat.
Wing wizard Ward was proving to be Derby’s most likely source for an opening goal, and he continued to cause the opposition defence problems as the Rams stepped things up after half-time.
He provided the home side’s best effort of the match on 66 minutes when his beautifully struck 25-yard free-kick looked to be arrowing in to the top corner before missing the target by inches.
Robinson then missed a golden chance to continue his goalscoring form when he volleyed over the bar from just inside the area, after Green headed back across the box.
Then came the two-minute period which proved crucial in the final result, beginning with McSheffrey glancing a wonderful curling free-kick from Coventry skipper Sammy Clingan towards goal, which Fielding acrobatically saved to keep the scores level.
The home crowd burst into life, seemingly lifted by Fielding’s heroics, and they roared the Rams up to the other end, where they found the winning goal on 75 minutes.
A lovely slide rule pass by Paul Green played in Craig Bryson on the right, and he squared the ball for Ball to effortlessly stroke the ball past Murphy into the bottom corner.
Coventry looked deflated and never really seemed likely to equalise as Derby played out time for another valuable three points.
