“Leeds United, we’re coming for you,” sang the Derby fans in anticipation of the delicious play-off semi-final coming up after Frank Lampard’s side confirmed their top-six place with a 3-1 win against West Brom. Over the next few days you will no doubt hear conciliatory words claiming “Spygate” is forgotten, but these will be a pair of games laced with needle. Cancel your plans.

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Such has been the expectation placed on Derby over the last few years you might expect a play-off place to be the minimum asked of them, but in reality this represents a significant achievement for a first-year manager with a young and imbalanced squad. “Some boys have become men this season,” said Lampard, filled with pride and relief after a game that tested the hearts and heads of his Derby players.

Much like the season as a whole, there were moments when it did not look like Derby would make it, with Middlesbrough strolling to victory at Rotherham with this game at 1‑1 and threatening to overhaul them had they not won. But goals from Mason Bennett and Harry Wilson were enough and Lampard was particularly impressed with the way his players responded after Stefan Johansen equalised Martyn Waghorn’s opener.

“It was never going to be a comfortable afternoon emotionally,” he said. “Some people wilt [under that sort of pressure], some people hide, but the players didn’t, they showed character. The quality, the workrate, the calmness to play football; it’s easy to try long balls and mad things but they didn’t. That’s all on the players, not me. We won 3-1 but it could have been four, five or six.”

For West Brom, their outside chance of finishing third and a more straightforward semi-final than what they now have against Aston Villa disappeared, but this performance had an end-of-season vibe and it was clear which team were more relaxed in the early stages. Derby looked edgy and were lucky that West Brom did not take the lead in the 12th minute when Jacob Murphy had just the goalkeeper to beat but somehow skewed his shot wide. Lampard paced the technical area like a man who wished he could put his boots on and sort it out on the pitch.

But he need not have worried. Derby took the lead after 19 minutes with their first clear opportunity as Jayden Bogle crossed beautifully on the run from the right touchline, and Waghorn found just enough space in the middle and glanced a perfect header into the bottom corner. After that Derby looked in control, despite Waghorn having to limp off after unsuccessfully trying to play on with an achilles problem.

But the lead lasted only 90 seconds into the second half as the Derby defence stood off Johansen and he used the time and space to whip a superb curling shot into the corner. With Middlesbrough ahead at Rotherham, from a position of relative comfort suddenly the Rams were slipping out of the play-off spots and absolutely everything became frantic.

And then, just as in the first half, the nerves were washed away in a few minutes. Firstly Tom Lawrence broke into the area and shot straight at Sam Johnstone only for the substitute Bennett, the homegrown lad who made his debut aged only 15, to force home just five minutes after his introduction. “Make yourself a hero,” commented Lampard when asked what he said to Bennett. “And he did.”

Then, a few moments later, Lawrence brilliantly cut in from the left, beat two men then tumbled after a challenge from a third. It was not immediately clear how much contact – if any – there was, but that mattered not a bit to Wilson, who slotted the penalty home.

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After the goal Lampard quietly advised a ballboy to take his time returning the ball before a throw-in, but again there was no need. West Brom showed little desire to chase the game, although the substitute Hal Robson-Kanu did manage to get himself sent off for kicking Bradley Johnson. He will be suspended for the play-offs which the caretaker manager, Jimmy Shan, described as a “bitter blow”.

To the semi-finals, then, and Leeds versus Derby. “I believe we’ll be underdogs going into it,” Lampard added. “Let’s go into it hopefully with no fear and let’s try and upset a few people.”

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