No stand-alone match report, I’m afraid, so this MBM will have to do in that regard. Having said that, Coventry’s efforts tonight have catapulted them to the top of our Championship round-up, and in any case it’s another excuse to meet up with Mr PA Media again, our omnipresent pal of pre-match scene-setting fame. Thanks for reading this blog!

Lampard’s opposite number John Eustace speaks to Sky: “I thought we were excellent tonight … really pleasing to come to the best team in the league and perform like we did … real good signs for us … really disappointed to lose … the three goals we conceded were really sloppy, really poor goals … we could have scored a couple [more] ourselves if we’d been more clinical … we have to keep learning and building … we showed great character … were dominant in the first half … in the second we were under pressure … you saw the players they were able to bring on … top players at this level … we have six big games coming up, which we’ll be ready for.”

… and on the penalty decision, Lampard magnanimously says: “I don’t think it’s a pen, but I do understand why the ref gave it … we don’t have VAR at this level … the speed of it, from my angle, I thought urgh, it could be a pen, straight away.”

… as for Jack Rudoni, Lampard says: “He has the ability to play in the Premier League … I just hope it’s with us … he’s a special player … he looked like a Champions League player today … I don’t wanna overcook it!”

More from Lampard on Frank Onyeka, the Brentford loanee and new Coventry hero: “He’s a quality player … an amazing lad … come in from the Premier League … incredible humility … he just comes in and works … such a lovely bloke … I’m delighted for him … this place adores him already … players always see the level of player in training … that was clear straight away so there’s a respect there … he’s so diligent … he’s just had a baby when he first came in … he’s staying in hotels and not seeing his family … I’m like get home and see them … he’s no no, I need to be here, we’ve got a game coming … the way he prepares … massive signals for the rest of the players.”

Frank Lampard talks to Sky Sports. “Enjoy it while it’s there … we don’t always get these nights and these results … the fans are a massive part of what we do … both teams took part in a great game of football and we’ve come out on top … this team has got character … there’s always tension at this part of the season … we started to play their game … credit to Derby because they had a good feeling at the end of the first half … after half time it was more us … a different performance … you can ask [Onyeka] whether it was a shot, I’m taking it as a shot!”

Jack Rudoni, the player of the match, speaks to Sky Sports. “It’s good … I’ve only trained for two days … the gaffer was ‘are you sure you have 30 in you?!’ … I was ‘yeah sure!’ … buzzing to come on and help the team … thought I’d won it with the first one … we had to respond again … that’s been us all season … whenever we have a setback, the fight from the boys has been brilliant … we never dwell on it … we come right back … it shows the spirit … of course it’s close … let’s just win the games … we’re staying focused … we’re a good side and we believe in ourselves … yeah, we’ll do it! We’ll do it!”

As for his mate Frank Onyeka … did he mean that first goal?! “I saw the keeper and thought I have to chip it! … ha ha! … but good goal! … I hope it’s the first of many more to come.”

Coventry City are now so close to ending their quarter-century exile from the Premier League. Just eight more points will guarantee promotion … and they’ve got home games to come against doomed Sheffield Wednesday and struggling Portsmouth. What a story it would be if they make it, perhaps with Millwall in tow. Anyone else of a certain generation got the theme to ITV’s The Match as an earworm?

Coventry and Derby shared eight goals at Pride Park last August; they share five tonight in another thriller! Derby were the better team in the first half, but Coventry showed the resilience of champions afterwards. They were greatly improved in the second, and ended up deserved winners, refusing to buckle when Derby levelled for a second time thanks to an unjustly awarded spot kick. Jack Rudoni is their two-goal hero, and he leads the celebrations as the CBS Arena slips into party mode. A huge result in the race for the Championship title, and promotion to the Premier League!

90 min +8: There’s still time for Allen to swing one in from the right. Agyemang meets the dropping ball at the far stick, but he’s falling backwards and can neither head goalwards nor send the ball back across the face of goal! Instead he eyebrows it out for a goal kick.

90 min +7: … then erupts with relief as Ward wafts a dismal free kick straight into the arms of Rushworth.

90 min +6: Brereton Diaz wins a cheap free kick off Mason-Clark, 35 yards out, just to the right of centre. One last chance for Derby to throw a Hail Mary. The CBS Arena falls into nervous almost-silence …

90 min +5: Ward probes down the right but Dasilva is not for passing.

90 min +4: Rudoni wastes as much time as he can before taking the resulting free kick. Derby eventually snaffle the ball back but Brereton Diaz is only able to blooter upfield and out for a throw. Time, Coventry’s friend now, continues to march on.

90 min +3: Rudoni, Coventry’s hero in waiting, takes the corner short, then draws a foul. The clock ticks on.

90 min +2: Mason-Clark drives down the left and glides infield. He aims a curler towards the far corner. The ball takes a deflection off Ward and nearly loops in, the keeper rooted and stranded. But it sails out for a corner.

90 min +1: The first of seven additional minutes. The home fans with a collective sharp intake of breath.

90 min: Coventry replace their captain Grimes with Torp.

89 min: Murkin with space down the left. But he can’t beat the first man with his cross. It really hasn’t been his night. But say what you will about Derby’s unfortunate left-back, at least he’s not been anonymous Murkin. (And yes I did require a supersize crowbar to squeeze in that reference to an obscure Anthony Newley musical that doesn’t quite work now I come to think about it.)

87 min: Agyemang steams down the left and rolls a pass across the face of the Coventry box for Fraulo, who lets the ball trundle across his body … and there goes the opportunity to shoot.

86 min: Ozoh makes way for Allen.

85 min: Agyemang and Fraulo combine at speed down the left. For a second, it looks as though they’ve opened Coventry up, but That Man Van Ewijk arrives from nowhere to intercept and clear! He’s everywhere at the moment.

84 min: These two teams have rustled up 13 goals between them in their showdowns so far this season. Time for another? Derby fancy their chances of another equaliser, but Fraulo can’t sort his feet out in the box.

83 min: Another assist for that man Van Ewijk, by the way! A case study in never giving up.

82 min: Rushworth celebrated that goal as though he’d scored it himself. A release of all that frustration. And in other frustration news, Agyemang leaves a cheeky one on Thomas, studs atop the boot. He’s booked for it, and can count himself lucky not to be walking. Thankfully Thomas survives.

79 min: Coventry will wonder how they allowed themselves to be split apart so easily. But then again, they might not, because …

74 min: Ward slips a pass down the left for Agyemang, who fizzes a low shot-cum-cross towards the near post. But there’s nobody in Derby grey making a run, and Rushworth claims without fuss.

73 min: Banel, who had his chances to put Derby into the lead, is replaced by Fraulo.

72 min: Onyeka busies himself down the right and wins a corner. Nothing comes of it, but Coventry are well on top now.

70 min: Hats off to Frank Lampard for the supersub. Hats off to Van Ewijk, too, who seconds earlier had wasted a similarly good opportunity to cross from the right. His delivery not for the first time this evening poor. But he didn’t give up, kept coming back, and this time was on the money.

67 min: That slew of substitutions has kind of jiggered the flow of the game. It’s like the international break never stopped.

65 min: Since the break, Coventry have made 35 passes in the opposition’s final third to Derby’s four. The visitors have to do something, so they swap out Morris for Agyemang.

63 min: The triple change, then. Mason-Clark, Wright and Rudoni replace Eccles, Simms and Esse.

62 min: Coventry’s tails are up. Derby pinned back. The final ball is lacking, though, so Coventry prepare a triple change. Before it can be made, Derby boss John Eustace is booked for telling it as he sees it.

60 min: Grimes cuts Derby apart with a forensic slide down the inside-right channel. He releases Van Ewijk, whose cutback is no good. But Coventry come again, this time down the left flank. Esse releases Eccles, who sends another one-on-one effort straight at the keeper! Nothing comes of the resulting corner.

58 min: Esse slips Dasilva into space down the left. Dasilva’s low cross is battered clear by Murkin. This is pretty intense.

56 min: … and now Derby get away with a huge one. Ward’s backpass is intercepted by Eccles, who faces down O’Donnell. Eccles opens his body and aims for the bottom right, but telegraphs his intention and the keeper blocks well. The rebound falls to Simms, who hoicks over the bar. Both teams making mistakes, both going unpunished.

55 min: Onyeka nearly gifts possession to Ozoh, 35 yards from his own goal. Coventry have suddenly got a bit sloppy. A better touch from Ozoh and he’d have been away. The hosts getting away with a couple.

53 min: Travis cynically walks into the path of Esse, and it’s a free kick. He’s already been booked, so really wants to watch himself here. You’ve seen referees book folk for less. The bar’s always higher for a second yellow, I guess, even if we all know it shouldn’t be.

52 min: Sakamoto whips a dangerous cross in from the right. Clarke clears yet again, with Simms lurking. Derby counter through Brereton Diaz on the right. He crosses low and hard. Thomas tries to intercept with a slide, but misses the ball. If Banel controls with his first touch, he’s one on one with Rushworth. But his first touch is clunky, and that allows Thomas to spring up and flick clear.

50 min: Sakamoto and Van Ewijk combine well down the right, but when the ball’s cut back for Grimes, the resulting cross goes straight down O’Donnell’s throat. It’s Derby’s fans making the most noise at the moment.

49 min: Sakamoto sprays a right-to-left diagonal in the direction of Esse, but Ward diverts the ball back to O’Donnell with a stooping header. Promising early second-half signs for Coventry, after being on the back foot so much just before the break.

47 min: Coventry are on the front foot immediately. Esse shoots. Blocked. Another wave. Esse crosses. Clarke, who has been excellent tonight, clears.

Coventry get the second half underway. No changes. Yet.

Half-time postbag. “Evening Scott. [Deletes half-written email about how Derby have got little out of the top six this season, probably aren’t yet ready for the play offs, but have maintained appreciable progress for a third year on the trot so that’s OK.] GAME ON!! HAVE THAT, FRANK LAMPARD’S COVENTRY CITY!!!!” – Tom Hopkins

45 min +3: They really could! Because Ozoh’s hustle wins possession out on the left. The ball’s shifted to the right for Ward, who crosses to the far post. Morris heads back across goal, but Banel can’t force a header home from six yards. Coventry somehow escape!

45 min +2: Coventry really could do with hearing that whistle all right.

45 min +1: Esse plays a loose backpass straight to Banel, who is suddenly one on one with the keeper! He aims low and hard for the bottom right, but Rushworth makes a crucial stop! Derby should be leading. But what heroics from the Coventry keeper.

45 min: There will be three additional first-half minutes.

43 min: Esse probes down the left and wins a corner off Ward, who he looks to have the beating of. Everyone in sky blue comes up for the set piece … but Eccles hoicks it over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick. The CBS Arena a little bit stunned by the momentum shift. Frank Lampard not looking quite so content now.

41 min: Now Clarke gets back to the day job, stopping Simms as the Coventry striker bustles down the middle of the park. Derby have their tails up, and they counter, Brereton Diaz sending a low cross into the Coventry box. Kitching clears. All of a sudden, Coventry could do with hearing the half-time whistle.

40 min: That was one hell of a cross from Clarke, it really was. And a fine run by the Derby centre-back to get himself into a position to deliver it! Wow.

37 min: Derby have enjoyed 58 percent of possession since the Coventry goal. But they’ve not forced Rushworth into any meaningful action.

36 min: There are no recriminations. Simms was within his rights to go for the ball he’d flicked into the Derby box, and he accidentally poked the keeper instead. Thankfully O’Donnell is fine. Hard but fair. We all play on.

35 min: The tempo drops, and for the first time this evening the CBS Arena falls quiet. But suddenly Sakamoto loops a long pass down the right. Simms juggles the ball inside Sanderson and stretches a leg for it. O’Donnell comes off his line to bravely smother, because he takes a clatter from Simms for his trouble.

33 min: A period of Derby possession in Coventry territory. But they don’t apply any serious pressure. On the touchline, Frank Lampard looks calm and content.

31 min: Brereton Diaz cuts in from the right and blooters a shot that’s blocked and deflected to Murkin on the left. Murkin shoots, and his effort flies straight right, back through the Coventry box. Nothing’s working for poor Murkin right now.

30 min: More applause, another tribute, this time to Coventry fan Roy Slade, who recently passed after years of grass-roots involvement in the sport.

29 min: Travis is spun by Eccles near the centre circle, and suddenly there’s a break on. Travis takes one for the team, hanging a leg across his opponent, bringing him down and earning himself a booking.

27 min: Grimes hits the corner long, but Eccles can’t get an effort away from a tight angle on the left. Derby clear their lines … then Onyeka comes back on, and immediately wins the ball back. A huge cheer from the Cov fans for their returning hero.

26 min: There was no ill intent in Ozoh’s challenge. A wee bit mistimed maybe. Happily it looks as though Onyeka will be fine.

25 min: Onyeka strides down the inside-right channel and slips a pass forward for Simms, who shoots from a tight angle. Sanderson blocks out for a corner. But the corner can’t be taken yet, because Onyeka was clattered by Ozoh making the pass, and he’s fallen awkwardly on his shoulder. On comes the trainer.

24 min: Morris steams down the left and wins Derby their first corner of the evening. Coventry may be divisional leaders at scoring from set pieces with 24, but Derby aren’t too shabby either, with a total of 20. But this time Murkin’s delivery hangs easily for Rushworth to pluck from the sky. Not been a great game for poor Murkin so far.

22 min: Onyeka cushions a pass into the road of Eccles, who falling backwards on the edge of the Derby D, threads a shot towards the bottom left. Easy for O’Donnell.

21 min: Watching replays of the goal, I can’t work out whether Onyeka meant it or not. So let’s give him all the credit. Sorry for ever doubting you, Frank.

19 min: Both sets of supporters break into warm applause, in tribute to Paul Pike, a young Birmingham fan who went to a game at Derby last month and sadly never made it back home. A heart-breaking story, a lovely tribute. Rest well, Paul.

17 min: Murkin faffs around 30 yards out, facing his own goal, and allows Sakamoto to race off with the ball down the right. Murkin redeems himself by chasing back, and when Sakamoto chops inside, preparing to shoot, reclaiming possession. Derby have misplaced their early mojo.

16 min: That’s a bit of a blow to Derby, who had started pretty well. But the hosts are completely on top now, and first to everything.

14 min: Whether that was a cross or a shot, O’Donnell will be disappointed with his positioning, and the way he misjudged the flight of the ball. Hats off to Onyeka, though, because his persistence in stripping Murkin of possession and driving immediately forward paid dividend. The CBS Arena erupts!

11 min: Eccles is clattered by Sanderson out on the left flank as the pair compete for a corner. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Derby box, waiting for Grimes to deliver.

10 min: Simms makes a run of great insistence down the left. It’s a real power hustle, and he shrugs off Sanderson, but Brereton Diaz tracks back to ensure he doesn’t make it all the way to the Derby box. Everyone is well up for this.

8 min: Esse motors down the left and his shot-cum-cross is smothered by O’Donnell in the Derby goal. This is good bank-holiday entertainment.

7 min: Banel briefly threatens to break into space down the inside-right channel, but Onyeka eases him off the ball. Derby keep pressing, though, and Clark barges his way down the opposite channel, but his shot, half-scuffed, is blocked by Thomas. Derby look lively.

5 min: Brereton Diaz bustles down the right and earns a throw deep in Cov territory. Ward shapes to throw long, but then goes short, and gets the ball back. He whips dangerously to the near post, but Rushworth has read the intent and gathers without fuss. Both teams seem in the mood to attack.

3 min: However Coventry come straight back at Derby. Esse’s shot is blocked by Clarke, who extends a leg bravely at close quarters. Then Murkin gently shoves Sakamoto in the back as the pair contest a high ball. A huge cry for a penalty, though it’s more from the Coventry fans than the players themselves. Fast start by the hosts.

2 min: Van Ewijk looks long for Simms. Clarke intercepts. Then Esse hassles Ward down the left and forces the first corner of the match. Coventry have scored 24 goals from set pieces this season, the division’s best … but this one comes to nothing.

Derby get the ball rolling. The CBS Arena roaring.

The teams are out! Coventry City all in sky blue – hats off to Jimmy Hill – while Derby wear second-choice grey with orange trim. We’ll be off in a minute!

Derby boss John Eustace talks to Sky. “We’re really excited … we’re playing against the best team in the league … we’ve got nothing to lose … we know they’re a top team with top players coached very well … what a great opportunity for us to showcase ourselves and see where it takes us … we’ve kept level headed … believe in our process … our football is improving all the time … we’re looking forward to each challenge and tonight is another one.”

Eustace also delivers some unwelcome news regarding Rhian Brewster. He picked up an injury against Birmingham and that’s required surgery, so he’ll be out for the rest of the season.

Cov manager Frank Lampard speaks to Sky Sports. “Focus on every game … continue with the momentum … the basics … everything we’ve been doing for a period of time now … stay calm … understand that this league is so tough … absolute focus from us … a bit of a rest … train well … be ready … understand now we’re at the crunch end … [Derby] will be a really tough one … we found that out earlier in the season … we know they’re a good team … we have to be at it.”

By way of fair measure, here’s what happened in this fixture last season. Once again, over to our old pal PA Media, Esq.

Jerry Yates excelled as Derby earned their first away win by beating Coventry 2-1. The forward scored the opener after 11 minutes and his strike after the break deflected in off Bobby Thomas. Derby withstood a potential late comeback from their hosts after Coventry pulled one back through Tatsuhiro Sakamoto.

That result led to the surprise sacking of Mark Robins, who had taken Coventry to within a toenail of the club’s second FA Cup final just a few months earlier.

If tonight’s game is even half as good as the reverse fixture, played back in August at Pride Park, we’ll be in for a treat. Here’s what happened, as reported on this very website by that omnipresent scribe, Mr PA Media.

Coventry staged a stunning comeback to beat Derby 5-3 at Pride Park. The visitors, coached by the former Derby manager Frank Lampard, scored three times in the space of eight minutes for a remarkable victory.

The teams traded goals in the first half with Derby twice coming from behind to go in level at the break before their captain, Ebou Adams, put them in front. But after Brandon Thomas-Asante equalised, Ephron Mason-Clark and Victor Torp settled a pulsating match.

Coventry’s first goal was tinged with good fortune as Jacob Widell Zetterström punched Matt Grimes’s low free-kick against Bobby Thomas and the ball bounced into the net in the seventh minute. There was nothing remotely lucky about the equaliser five minutes later. David Ozoh won a free-kick on the left side of the penalty area and Callum Elder bent his shot at pace into the top-right corner.

Haji Wright made no mistake when Coventry won a penalty in the 25th minute, but the home side levelled in first-half added time after Thomas handled a cross and Carlton Morris coolly rolled in the penalty.

Five minutes into the second half Derby were ahead. A long throw dropped to Adams who placed a low shot into the bottom corner from 10 yards, but the game changed again as Coventry scored twice in the space of four minutes. Another long throw in the 72nd minute was headed by Thomas against a post and Thomas-Asante bundled the ball over the line.

Derby were caught cold three minutes later when Milan van Ewijk got in on the right and crossed for Mason-Clark to head in at the back post. Four minutes later Coventry had a fifth with Torp given space just inside the area to fire a low shot in off the left post to seal their first win at Derby in 11 matches.

Coventry make three changes to their starting line-up after the 3-0 win at Swansea a fortnight ago. Romain Esse, Liam Kitching and Josh Eccles come in for Ephron Mason-Clark, who drops to the bench, and Joel Latibeaudiere and Brandon Thomas-Asante, who miss out altogether (the former rested, the latter hamstrung).

Derby also make three changes, following the 1-0 win over Birmingham City two weeks back. David Ozoh, Carlton Morris and Jaydon Banel come in for Patrick Agyemang, who drops to the bench, and the injured pair of Sammie Szmodics and Rhian Brewster.