Derby County saw off a battle-hardy Reading side 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at Pride Park to tighten their grip on the final play-off place.
Frank Lampard’s men followed up their impressive FA Cup replay win over Premier League Southampton with a hard-fought win over Jose Gomez’ relegation-threatened Royals.
Duane Holmes took three minutes to get the hosts off to the perfect start with his first goal for the club before Harry Wilson netted his 10th Championship goal to give the Rams a comfortable lead at half-time.
The second half was a different beast, with the visitors applying plenty of pressure, arguably out-playing one of the league’s high-fliers.
Sone Aluko halved the deficit just after the hour mark, but it was not enough to snatch an unlikely point.
One player that stole the show, however, was the 24-year-old as he started as he would continue during his 87 minutes on the pitch.
With that, here's all the stats and analysis to the attacker's performance in the win over Reading last weekend.
Clinical
The Derby man hard his first shot in the third minute, and that would be his only effort on goal in the match. But it would be clinical and decisive.
Holmes’ only shot on goal resulted in a goal to give the home side the lead and gave them a base to be able to relax and grow into the game.
Catching Reading cold was the perfect tonic to the win over the Saints in the cup when a performance and result could have been in doubt after the heroics in midweek.
The 24-year-old only had 48 touches of the ball all afternoon, so he was able to make a difference when called upon without missing a plethora of chances.
Defensively sound
Playing on the left of a front three alongside Jack Marriott and Martyn Waghorn, the 24-year-old put in a shift going forward but was also influential in the other side of the game.
He was successful in two of his three tackles – a 67 per cent success rate and was able to make four clearances during the afternoon too.
Only Jayden Bogle made more interceptions than Holmes in the win over Reading to highlight is effectiveness in attack as well as aiding their defensive efforts to grind out a much-needed win.
Reliable link-up play
Being that Holmes was operating in a wide-left role of a front three his link-up play is imperative to getting the Rams up the pitch and joining the midfield in with the attacks and the same without the ball.
The attacker made a total of 30 passes, completing 20 of those – leaving him with a 66.7 per cent pass success rate which included one key pass.
The verdict
This could be a coming of age performance for the young man who made just his fifth start for Lampard’s men – scoring his first goal or the club in a narrow victory against the relegation- threated Royals.
Having played well when called upon, the 24-year-old should be starting more and more after recent positive performances.
Derby’s season has been about individuals on form at different times and now is Holmes’ time to shine.
Wilson is bang in form too to compensate for Mason Mount’s lack of it, but that is what young players give you. Now is Holmes’ time to announce himself to the Derby faithful and make his position in the team untouchable between now and the end of the season.