"Everyone Is Together And We Showed That Today"

Manager Frank Lampard was delighted for everyone associated with the club after Derby County secured their place in the Sky Bet Championship's play-offs with a 3-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion.

Martyn Waghorn opened the scoring with a header in the first-half before Stefan Johansen equalised minutes after the restart for the visitors.

Mason Bennett restored the Rams’ lead midway through the second half and minutes later a penalty from Harry Wilson secured the three points and Derby’s place in the play-off positions.

Derby will now face Leeds United in the play-off semi-finals in a bid to reach the Final at Wembley Stadium later this month.

“I think it was incredible for the whole club,” Lampard told RamsTV. “I think it’s the player’s achievement. It’s the squad, it’s the lads that work all season, young players, players who have been here for a while, everyone is together and we showed that today.

“At 1-1, we are all nervous in the stadium and the way the players reacted, the great football they played in the last half an hour, the character that they showed is exactly what I want from them.

“It’s a test of the players and ourselves. I knew Middlesbrough was winning at half time, so you know what is on this game.

“When it goes 1-1, like it did, you can feel the pressure but it was brilliant from everyone. They didn’t feel the pressure, in fact, they took the pressure and grew with it so it was brilliant from everyone.

“We should all be very happy and I hope everyone enjoys tonight and then we will get ready for Leeds.

“I didn’t want to go home or the game to finish today with the disappointment of not making the play-offs. I don’t care who we play now we are in there.

“My only feeling is that we’ve been beaten by Leeds twice when we could have played a lot better so it’s great lessons for us so let’s see what we can do in the play-offs.”

Bennett was the man to put the Rams back ahead with 20 minutes of the game remaining.

It calmed a lot of nerves around Pride Park Stadium and Lampard heaped praise on the forward after once again making an impact after coming off the bench.

“You know what I love about Mason, he feels this club,” he said. “He is a local boy as the fans sing and he will run through brick walls for this club.

“There is not a player in this squad that deserves that moment he got of getting us in front again. I could say that about the whole squad.

“It’s not me that turns up the heat when it goes to 1-1, it’s the players. All we can do is work through the week and we showed it today and we deserved it.”

It was some atmosphere inside Pride Park this afternoon, with over 32,000 fans in attendance, and the manager paid tribute to the supporters.

“We can’t do it without the fans,” Lampard commented. “We can’t do it without the 32,000 today, we can’t do it without the travelling fans at Bristol, West Brom and all these places we’ve been and got results.

“I know they will be ready and can turn the heat up against Leeds on Saturday and they help the lads so it’s great.”