The battle is still on for Derby County to stay afloat, both in terms of in the league and off-the-field too.

However, their chances to stay in the Championship took another blow last night as the Rams were swept aside by Cardiff in a 1-0 defeat.

It looked like the club might be holding on for a draw, only for Uche Ikpeazu to bag a winner five minutes from time.

It no doubt left Wayne Rooney's side with a sinking feeling in their stomach, as they look at the league table and now see a distance of eight points between themselves and Reading.

More results will certainly need to go their way before the end of the campaign if they want to survive - and after that 1-0 defeat, here are three things we learnt about Derby going forward.

1. Derby can dominate games - but they need to be more clinical with the ball

Last night, Derby played like the side who weren't struggling near the relegation zone at times. In fact, a quick look at the possession stats show that the Rams had the lions share of it - and yet they still suffered a defeat.

It was Derby who had 64% of the possession and it was Derby who also strung together more passes and more accurate passes to boot. In spite of this, the Rams could move the ball and get it around the field but there was a distinct lack of end product last night.

In the first half, they looked slightly better than Cardiff in terms of chances but even that is a push. When the second period kicked off, it was the Bluebirds who threatened more and ultimately ended up going in front.

Ravel Morrison and Colin Kazim-Richards both missed some chances to pull Derby ahead - so the lesson to be learned here is that you cannot waste the time you have on the ball or the opportunities. It's self-explanatory but if you have the ball for 70 minutes and can't score, it's more than likely you may end up paying for that at some point and Derby certainly did.

 

 

2. Eiran Cashin might be young but he looked a talent

It's early days yet for Eiran Cashin in his career but already he has shown signs of promise and against Cardiff it was no different for the 20-year-old.

Last night, the Irishman was arguably one of the best outlets for Derby and really shone in his role. He had more completed passes than anyone else on the field, won more duels than anybody else and even had more tackles. He was solid then in terms of breaking up the play, getting his team on the ball and then distributing it to players who can cause damage.

He's playing already with a maturity and vision that belies his age. It's likely to keep him in the team for a little while yet and both Wayne Rooney and the player himself will be hoping that he continues to thrive.

3. Derby need to try and get more from Luke Plange

Last night, Luke Plange was replaced in the 76th minute without ever really threatening that Cardiff goal. That's despite playing in attack for the vast majority of the game.

Strikers are much more than just goals and assists, they can offer good hold-up play, good creativity and vision but last night the player didn't manage to have much impact at all. He was certainly accurate with his passing (not one of his 12 passes went astray) but he didn't manage a single effort at goal, not one successful dribble, not one accurate cross and was also dispossessed twice.

The youngster is only on loan from Crystal Palace, so they won't have too much time left with the striker. While they have him then, they need to try and get more from him because right now he isn't offering as much as they would like.

Some of that falls to the player and perhaps some to the chances created for him but they need to find a way to get more from him until the end of the season if they plan to keep using him.