Mendez-Laing stood up as Rams hero when needed

A player who has received his fair share of criticism among Derby fans this season is Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.

The Guatemalan has put in a couple of notable performances - arguably his best of the season came against Portsmouth at Pride Park, where the Rams ran out 4-0 winners.

He was also taking many of Derby's unique, yet highly successful, corners at the beginning of the campaign, which accounted for just over 30% of the Rams' goal tally in the first 10 matches, allowing him to be deemed a real asset in the side.

However, things quickly petered out for the winger.

It seemed as though he'd suddenly lost a yard of pace, combined with the fact the standard of full-backs in this division is of course much higher than League One, making much less room for error for an attacker looking to beat their man.

With this, and a couple of knocks to halt his momentum, the 33-year-old's confidence soon dropped alongside his performance levels, seeing him become less effective for the team with a low goal tally and a lack of assists, despite being one of the Rams' best players last season.

The biggest moment from last season for Mendez-Laing was his valuable goal in the penultimate match at Cambridge United.

After racing on to the ball he showed great composure to round the keeper and slot home for Derby, earning a 1-0 victory that all but secured promotion.

Despite Mendez-Laing's underwhelming displays this season, he once again proved his passion for the club to succeed when the stakes were at their highest on Monday.

Mendez-Laing's goal against WBA was just his third of the season and first since November

With his first few touches after coming off the bench at the Hawthorns, he raced on to a through ball, coolly chipped Josh Griffiths, and on the angle passed the ball into the far corner to wrap up three crucial points for Derby.

Making the hardest of goals look as if he'd been scoring them all season!

While his criticism has been warranted for the majority of the campaign, Mendez-Laing has now proved he may be a key contributor to Derby's survival, while also proving how much passion he has for the club.

John Eustace takes credit once again for clearly instilling a mentality that every player in this squad has their part to play in this battle for safety.

Every player is buying into it, and every player wants to take their chance to make themselves the hero, regardless of game time, or levels of previous performances.

Huge plaudits to Mendez-Laing - in a season in which he could have let his head completely drop, he kept on believing and his perseverance paid off in the biggest of moments.

It now begs the question of who else in this squad will look at that moment of magic from Mendez-Laing and be inspired to do the same going into a tense, tight and thrilling final two matches.

Corey Blackett-Taylor is back in training, Kemar Roofe is available for selection against Hull City, and of course Mendez-Laing himself will no doubt be in the squad.

It's crunch time. Who will write their name in Derby folklore?

You can often catch Amelia Warren as a guest on BBC Radio Derby.