Greame Shinnie struck sweetly in extra time to earn all three points for Derby County under the lights at Pride Park Stadium against Wigan Athletic on Wednesday evening.
The victory is the third consecutive home win for the Rams and moved Phillip Cocu’s side up to 14th in the Sky Bet Championship table.
The goal in the second minute off stoppage time was the first of the Scottish midfielders Derby County career and it was a sensational finish to get him off the mark.
The game came alive in the second-half, with the Rams looking the more likely to score, however they were unable to find the final product until the dying moments when their pressure build up and Shinnie struck a lovely right-footed shot from just inside the area.
It was a relatively quiet opening half for both teams, with Derby holding the larger share of possession but unable to find a way past Wigan’s backline.
Tom Lawrence came the closest to breaking the deadlock inside the opening ten minutes when he received a brilliant long ball down from the right by Krystian Bielik. The Welshman powered forward into the area and drilled a low shot towards the near post which David Marshall batted out.
Straight down the other end Kieffer Moore had a close range shot blocked by Curtis Davies before Roos was called into make an important save on 57 minutes. Derby were hit on the counter attack and Wigan striker Jamal Lowe was squared the ball to go one-on-one with the keeper’ who blocked his effort.
The Rams continued to build into the half and looked the most likely to score with Martin and Jack Marriott coming off the bench to add firepower.
Lawrence made another threatening run forward into the box and save another of his shots saved, but Marshall sent it straight back to the Rams’ possession. The ball was wored round the area to Graeme Shinnie who was brought down on the edge of the box, but the resulting free-kick was sent into the wall.
Marriott came so close to grabbing a winner with a minute left to play. The Rams won back-to-back corners, with Curtis Davies’ headed effort for the first deflected out. Shinnie sent the second in to the middle of the box and the striker rose up to direct a powerful header goal bound which Marshall tipped over.
The pressure paid off in the second of four minutes of stoppage time, when the ball was deflected back to Shinnie just inside the area, and the midfielder rifled the effort sweetly into the right corner to secure all three points for the Rams.
Derby County: Roos; Bogle, Davies, Clarke, Malone (Lowe, 79); Shinnie, Bielik; Holmes, Paterson , Lawrence; Waghorn (Marriott, 67)
Unused Subs: Hamer, Wisdom, Dowell, Knight
Wigan Athletic: Marshall; Sterling, Dunkley, Mulgrew (Kipre, 62), Robinson; Macleod, Morsy; Massey (Naismith, 11), Williams, Lowe; Moore (Garner, 79)
Unused Subs: Pilkington, Windass, Jones, Gelhardt