Championship: Loan-market mastery guiding Derby up

Darren Bent is hinting at an overdue return to consistent scoring

Michael Lintorn looks at how loan arrivals like Thomas Ince and Darren Bent have enhanced Derby's promotion push...

Derby dropped from second to third on Championship matchday 30, but it felt like they had gained as they rallied from behind twice away to then-leaders Bournemouth - who had won 14 of their previous 19 league games - to earn a 2-2 draw.

The Rams trail the Cherries on goal difference and sit a point behind new pacesetters Middlesbrough following their 2-1 victory at Blackpool, yet Betfair punters judge them to have the best chance of securing promotion at 1.594/7. Boro are next up at 1.654/6, with Bournemouth priced at 1.784/5.

The two players that Derby have to thank for not allowing their south coast hosts to pull three points ahead of them were a pair of Premier League misfits who they acquired on loan in the winter transfer window: Thomas Ince and Darren Bent.

Ince's career had stalled since heading to Crystal Palace from Blackpool last January, starting just five top-flight matches there and then a mere three for Hull, the club who signed him permanently in the summer.

However, his quality was obvious in his final full Championship season with the Tangerines, scoring 18 times from out wide in a bottom-half side. Ince has made an instant impact at Derby, firing a brace past Bolton on his debut and then the first leveller at the Goldsands Stadium three days later.

The form of Bent has been more of a surprise because there were fears that he was finished before moving to the iPro Stadium early last month, having netted only 14 times across the preceding two-and-a-half years.

Instead, he has offered a reminder of his triumphant introductions upon joining Charlton (five goals in his first four outings in 2005) and Sunderland (eight in nine in 2009) by striking four times in his first five appearances.

Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider that he has started just once, meaning that his four goals were scored across 222 minutes of pitch time - a rate of more than one an hour.

Ince and Bent weren't Steve McClaren's only inspired loan captures either. Rented Real Madrid midfielder Omar Mascarell has started all bar three of Derby's last 20 games, and they have a better win rate with him in the team, while they also have Man United's Jesse Lingard still to unleash.

Next up for the Rams is an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Reading, in which they are 1.768/11 to achieve a fourth successive home win.