Derby County are just three points behind 23rd placed Barnsley in the Championship after earning a dramatic 2-2 draw at Reading on Monday.

Wayne Rooney's men have picked up ten points from their last four games and have scored twice in back-to-back matches for the first time this season.

While the Rams have been defensively sound this term, the main concern has been their lack of potency in the final third, such that seems to have been addressed in recent weeks with Colin Kazim-Richards scoring as a substitute three times in a row.

Rooney explained the magnitude of the improbable achievement of Derby staying up in the second tier, when he spoke to Alan Shearer for The Athletic.

He said: "For the players, it’s a chance to create a legacy. It’s a chance to create history. Nobody has ever done it before, from minus 21 points, and stayed up. It’s an opportunity to become heroes with the fans. You could argue it would be the greatest achievement in the club’s history. There might not be a trophy at the end of the season for us to lift but, if we did stay up, it would be a massive achievement."

If Derby can reduce the deficit to single figures in the coming weeks then it will become hard to deny that they have a chance, a slim one and but one that points to an outstanding effort from all involved.

The Verdict

The performances on the pitch are serving a purpose to bring some happiness to the supporters given the extremely worrying state of affairs off it. Rooney will be hoping that their recent positive run will be enough to convince some of his more saleable assets to stay put until at least the end of the season, with the potential to achieve something very special that would not be possible at any other club.

Curtis Davies and Kazim-Richards scored the goals on Monday and are leading the way as senior players at the moment, but it is the younger talents of Jason Knight, Max Bird and Liam Thompson who will be gaining admirers week in week out as clubs circle for a potential bargain this month.