It was four players on the sidelines, as much as the three who came off the bench or the three who started up front that provided indication of Derby County’s strength.

Steve McClaren believes his squad can improve as the Championship run-in gathers pace. Nobody at the club wants to risk promotion through the play-offs again. It is worth examining how much is being done to earn promotion automatically.

Chris Martin, Johnny Russell, John Eustace and Raul Albentosa were injured for the 2-0 win over Charlton at the iPro Stadium on Tuesday night.

Tom Ince (left) was a constant threat for the Rams against Charlton on Tuesday night

Derby boss Steve McClaren believes his squad can improve as the Championship run-in gathers pace

The top six in the Championship as it stands after 33 games

They represent the team’s top-scoring striker, a Scottish international winger, a midfield general, and a 6ft 4in Spanish centre-back.

The substitutes sent on to consolidate victory were fleet-footed wideman Simon Dawkins, Omar Mascarell, on loan from Real Madrid, and the hugely experienced Craig Bryson. All have been regular starters with 85 club appearances between them this season.

The trio starting across the attack in McClaren’s 4-3-3 system were Tom Ince, Jesse Lingard and Darren Bent; each brought in on a temporary deal during a richly productive January transfer window.

Lingard, borrowed from Manchester United on deadline day, got his first Derby goal against Charlton – a deadly finish to end a flowing move.

Ince sent his one chance just wide, but still has five goals in five games since moving from Hull.

Bent set up Jeff Hendrick for the opener and despite failing to register himself has seven in nine since arriving from Aston Villa.

Those three have provided a timely injection in Derby’s push for automatic promotion to the Premier League – securing an extra six Championship points by their goals alone.

Centre-forward Martin, scorer of 19 goals this term, has been recovering from a hamstring injury since the 15th minute of the match at Bournemouth on February 10.

His loss, for three Championship games so far with a fourth set to come at the weekend, would have been more acutely felt were it not for the impact of Derby’ s January signings.

Russell and Albentosa will play for the club’s Under-21s side on Wednesday night to step up their fitness.

Jesse Lingard celebrates scoring his side's second during their 2-0 win over Charlton on Tuesday

Darren Bent has also joined the club on loan from Aston Villa after a stint at Brighton earlier this season

McClaren has a squad the envy of the Championship, much through his improvement of players, much through the additions completed by chief executive Sam Rush, one of the game’s best negotiators.

For example, Bent is staying for the season – no recall clause for Villa despite a change of manager. Bringing in Lingard and Ince, 22 and 23 respectively, illustrates the trust Premier League clubs have of Derby.

Jordan Ibe, now starring for Liverpool, illustrated as much during his spell earlier in the season. Rush acted quickly when the 19-year-old was recalled by Brendan Rodgers, finding a replacement in Lingard.

Another significant factor is how established squad members have penned fresh long-term deals. In January goalkeeper Lee Grant became the tenth player to sign a new contract since the end of the 2013-14 campaign.

Once everyone on the treatment table is fit it remains to McClaren to find the right balance over 13 remaining games. They have a two-point lead at the top but all seven teams in the top eight who played on Tuesday night won.

It will be tight. But the platform is there.

McClaren has options to tailor his teams to certain games and make substitutions to affect results. Jamie Ward, another with nearly 25 games under his belt this campaign, did not make it off the bench against Charlton.

George Thorne played 71 minutes three days after managing an hour in his comeback match following seven months out with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

He was excellent, showing an ability to dictate proceedings as he did at the back end of last season before his move from West Bromwich Albion was made permanent in the summer.

He cost around £2million with add-ons before breaking down days later in a pre-season friendly against Zenit St Petersburg. Remarkably, after such a serious injury, he is set to show his worth as the season climaxes.

‘Sometimes you find they come back and it takes a long time, sometimes they come back with enthusiasm, belief and confidence straight away, which he obviously has,’ said McClaren. ‘He’s played very well. But I still think there is a lot to come from George. If we can keep him fit he’ll be very, very good for us like he was at this stage last season.’

Liverpool winger Jordon Ibe began the season on loan at Derby in the Championship

Derby County players huddle before their Championship game with Charlton on Tuesday night

Members of the club’s North American ownership group flew over for a summit meeting ahead of the Charlton match, and will have been impressed with what they saw.

One of the major shareholders W Brett Wilson, a Canadian who wears a multi-coloured poncho to matches, spoke of the club’s ambition. ‘There are very few clubs better positioned than Derby in terms of our ownership group, our management team and our players’ contracts – we’re in a fabulous position,’ he said.

‘When we made the commitment to Sam Rush and Steve McClaren it was a new day. Nobody thought overnight we would see promotion – we made a three to five-year commitment. We’re still in the middle of that. Do we want to go up this year? Absolutely.’

They wanted to go up last year too – and looked on the verge at Wembley until Bobby Zamora found a dramatic late goal to send Queens Park Rangers into the Premier League instead. Such are the vagaries of the play-offs.

McClaren is aiming for first or second this time. ‘We’ve got a lot of games coming up, we’ve got to use the squad,’ he said. ‘Our midfield is very strong, our bench is good, we can make changes and our loan signings have come in and done well.