Late goals from Darren Bent and Tom Ince gave Derby County their third win in the Sky Bet Championship at the expense of Karl Robinson's struggling MK Dons. 

Karl Robinson is not happy with the Dons performance

The result gave Paul Clement's side a third win in four matches, their third on the bounce away from home, but a fifth consecutive defeat leaves the Dons second bottom in the Championship table.

Here are three things we learnt from yesterday's encounter:

1) MK Dons must be more clinical

Many fans and pundits predicted in pre-season that Robinson's men would go straight back down to League One.

And if they are to stay up this season, they must be more clinical in front of goal.

Despite what the scoreline suggests, the Dons could easily have won the game had they taken their chances. Derby has 10 shots, 5 of which were on target and scored 3, the home side had 26 attempts, with just 4 on target.

Robinson will know more than anyone else that his side must take their chances, and he'll hope that Nicky Maynard will address that. They are clearly creating opportunities, which is always a good sign, but taking them is a totally different aspect, and one they must get right sooner rather than later.

2) Derby starting to click

Derby struggled to win games after Clement's arrival but with three wins from their last four games, they are starting to look like the promotion contenders that everyone expected them to be. 

They've invested heavily this summer as they look to finally secure a return to the Premier League and they are starting to see a return on that investment. The three goal scorers all signed this summer, Ince and Bent signing permanently and Bradley Johnson completing a £6m deadline day, and Clement will hope that his expensively built side will start to charge up the table.

It's just a case of replicating this away form at the iPro Stadium, where Clement is yet to taste success since his appointment in the summer.

3) The Capital One Cup took its toll on MK Dons

With Derby knocked out of the Capital One Cup earlier in the competition, it meant that they didn't have a midweek game this week.

However the Dons played and lost comprehensively to Southampton and, with their squad thin, Robinson's men looked fatigued, and the manager alluded to that himself post-match.

Playing 90 minutes in midweek obviously had an impact on the home side's preparation as well meaning their players were tired following the 6-0 defeat to the Saints.

Fatigue and a small squad is something that Robinson will have to deal with this season as they aren't blessed with the finances of some of their Championship rivals.

Going out of the competition, and with an international break coming up, will give the players time to recover and go again in October.

MK Dons and Derby fans... do you agree? Are Derby beginning to show why they were regarded as a pre-season favourite for promotion? Was the midweek League Cup fixture a key factor for the Dons yesterday? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!