Steve McClaren has pledged to leave his umbrella at home as Derby County secured their place at Wembley for the Championship play-off final a week on Saturday with manager and club ready to take a shot at redemption.

Wembley and 2007 presaged humiliating periods for Derby and McClaren but now both can relish the prospect of returning to the national stadium with their heads held high.

Just as the Derby manager will never be allowed to forget the memory of being dubbed the "wally with the brolly" after Croatia's victory ended his reign as the England manager, so Derby remain associated with the abject campaign that same winter in which they mustered a record low 11 Premier League points following their play-off final triumph over West Bromwich Albion.

Goals from Will Hughes, Chris Martin, George Thorne and Jeff Hendrick enabled Derby to book their berth in the final against either Queens Park Rangers or Wigan Athletic and the style with which McClaren has his team playing burnishes his restored reputation.

Asked whether returning to Wembley would evoke memories of the Croatia debacle, McClaren said: "Thank you for reminding of that! I won't be taking a bloody brolly this time, I know that much.

"I've been back to Wembley a few times since then. I'll be back there next week for the FA Cup final for Hull City against Arsenal. It'll be nice to go back there because I've got some great memories as well as some bad ones."

This was Derby's fourth victory over Brighton this season, building on the 2-1 first-leg victory at the Amex Stadium on Thursday, and their seventh win in eight games. Some of their football in this match, epitomised by a deftly taken goal by Hughes that McClaren described as "unbelievable", was from the top drawer.

"We won ugly on Thursday and today we wanted a performance – and what a performance," the manager said. "From minute one, we just wore Brighton down. We've got to deal with everything coming our way now, all the accolades, all the preparations for Wembley, but the key thing is we've got to perform like that."

McClaren praised the "bravery" of Sam Rush, the Derby chief executive, who opted to replace the popular Nigel Clough in the autumn with a manager who had failed up the A52 with Nottingham Forest in his previous posting. Derby were 14th when McClaren arrived in October but have now achieved a club record number of points and becoming the Championship's highest scorers.

Derby looked every one of the 13 points they finished above Brighton even if it took until the 34th minute for them to score. Craig Forsyth crossed low from left-back for Hughes to time his run late and pirouette into a position from which he deflected the ball home with the inside of his left heel.

It was a marvellous goal that settled Derby and the goals flowed in the second period. Martin bagged his fourth goal against Brighton of the season, bundling home his 25th of the season when Jamie Ward headed Johnny Russell's cross back across goal.

The margin of Derby's superiority was rendered more realistic in the final 14 minutes as Thorne volleyed home from 25 yards and Hendrick arrived late to convert Patrick Bamford's pull-back before Kazenga LuaLua scored for Brighton, a goal so token that even the Derby fans celebrated.