[long_read]

Derby County kept their play-off hopes alive on Tuesday evening with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic.

The Rams fell behind in the first-half with Gavin Massey opening the scoring to give Paul Cook’s relegation-threatened side a surprise lead.

But Mason Bennett equalised in spectacular fashion with an overhead kick, before Scott Malone netted what proved to be the winner 12 minutes from time.

The result sees Frank Lampard’s move to within touching distance of the top six, with goal difference currently separating them and Bristol City.

The Derby boss rung the changes for the game against Wigan and sprung a few surprises with his team selection on the night.

The Rams have some crucial fixtures coming up and they’ll be hoping to pick up as many wins as possible to keep themselves in the hunt for a long-awaited return to the Premier League.

But what have we learnt about Derby after this latest win?

Find out below…..

[snack_break title="Bradley Johnson looked back to his best"]

Johnson was one of the names called back into the starting XI, and he certainly took his chance.

He’ll be hoping to keep the likes of George Evans out of the side ahead of a crucial set of fixtures for Derby which could define which direction their season heads in.

[snack_break title="Derby need to address their defensive frailties"]

Lampard’s side went behind on the night, which is coming somewhat a formality this season which is an issue that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.

They’ve only kept seven clean sheets in total this season and both Scott Carson and Kelle Roos need to improve on that statistic.

[snack_break title="We've witnessed the goal of the season"]

Mason Bennett’s equaliser on the night was a stunning strike which will be hard to beat this season.

If that goal is scored by a high-profile name, then we’ll be talking about it for years to come but it was an incredible goal by the Rams youngster.

It has to be up there with one of the greatest strikes we've seen in the Championship.

[/long_read]