Despite the chaotic ongoings off the pitch at Pride Park, Derby County managed to show their resilience once again with a 1-0 victory over Reading yesterday.

Administration hasn't distracted the job at hand on the pitch as Wayne Rooney guided his thread-bare squad to another win against a club who like the Rams are set for a points deduction due to breaching the EFL's financial rules.

It was a sole goal from an unlikely source in Craig Forsyth that secured the win for County, taking them back onto a positive points tally although how long that will be for is anyone's guess.

Let's look at THREE things we learnt about the Rams following their one goal victory over the Royals last night.

Defensively solid

Unlike some teams in the Championship, Derby are yet to concede more than two goals in a game, which is a surprise considering the majority of their defence is in its 30's.

 

 

 

 

 

Many thought they'd struggle with the likes of Curtis Davies, Phil Jagielka and Richard Stearman at the back, but they are all proving to have their uses.

The Rams kept their fourth clean sheet of the season last night and they'll be gutted after Saturday's late heartbreak at Bramall Lane that it's not five, and it was impressive to restrict Reading to zero goals when they had the likes of Ovie Ejaria and John Swift on the pitch.

Summer signings proving to be valuable

As it was well documented, Derby were limited in the amount and what kind of players they could bring to the club this summer due to their transfer embargo.

In the end they brought in Sam Baldock, Ravel Morrison, Phil Jagielka, Richard Stearman and Ryan Allsop, with four of those all playing a part in the victory last night.

Allsop was making his debut and he made some fantastic saves to keep Reading at bay, whilst Stearman deputised for Jagielka and by all accounts had a solid game as well.

Morrison though is proving to be an asset now he's got his head down and is playing under a man in Rooney who has belief in him and is letting him thrive - by the end of the season he could be the most important addition of the lot.

They will never give up

It would be so easy for Derby players to somewhat down tools because of the off-field situation, however they've shown in their first 10 games of the season that they could really take the relegation battle they're set to be in down to the wire.

They lack squad depth but there's talented players in their squad - Nathan Byrne, Jason Knight, Max Bird and Tom Lawrence all stand out as well as Morrison now he has his head down and if they're able to be kept together for the rest of the campaign then who knows what may happen.

The Rams are showing a new-found resilience on the field and there's clearly a togetherness there as they fight through the adversity, and Rooney is probably at the heart of that as from what he's said in the press he's clearly going to give his all for the club.