Coventry City moved one step closer to the Premier League with a 3-2 win over Derby, with Jack Rudoni scoring twice on his return from injury.
The Rams proved a troublesome opponent with Coventry twice denying them the Championship lead, but Rudoni, who came off the bench in the 62nd minute, scored the second of his two goals with 10 minutes remaining.
The midfielder has not played since February 28 but returned to devastating effect as Coventry secured their eighth win in nine league games.
The win means Coventry are 11 points clear at the top of the table and need just eight points from their remaining six games to secure a return to the Premier League.
Frank Onyeka got Coventry off to the perfect start and curled home a superb effort from distance, but Ben Brereton Diaz equalized after Matt Clarke’s stunning cross.
Lampard, who led Derby to the Championship play-off final in 2019, hit a triple serve right after the end of the game and paid dividends four minutes later.
Both teams wasted opportunities before Rudoni showed what he was looking for when he fired home from 15 yards.
Derby continued to ask questions and were awarded a penalty when Brereton Diaz was adjudged to have been fouled by Carl Rushworth despite the goalkeeper touching the ball.
Brereton Diaz converted a penalty, but just three minutes later Rudoni scored again and the home fans signed off on winning the league.
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Jack Rudoni’s ‘brilliant’ finish gave Coventry a third lead against Derby.
manager
Frank Lampard of Coventry:
“We don’t always get nights like this and results like this and we’ve had a lot of results this season so enjoy it while you’re at it.
“Now they can enjoy it, they are a big part of what we do here. The fans are amazing.
“Both teams played a great game of football and we achieved our best performance.
“It was a great night of football. I really enjoyed the game. There were some things I didn’t like, some things I really liked.
“But we won. This team has character.”
Derby’s John Eustace:
“I thought we were great. It was great to come to the best team in the league and play the way we did.
“It showed a good sign for us, we lost two or three guys and we didn’t let anyone down.
“We started well before they scored and showed great character to come back.
“It’s disappointing to lose. All three goals we conceded were sloppy and if we had been more clinical we could have scored a few more goals ourselves.
“We now have six big games ahead of us that we are ready for.”
