Derby travelled to Wigston Road, looking to make it 5 wins in a row and keep up their promotion chase.
For the first time in a number of weeks, the players were greeted by pleasant conditions, as they ran out to start the match.
Derby kicked off and started well. An early Lewis Hancock run led to Ethan Pearson being held up over the Oadby try line.
The good start counted for little as Oadby scored the first try and converted to go 7 points up.
Derby hit back after 16 minutes, when Sam Tebbs picked the ball up from a ruck on the Oadby 22 and sprinted clear to score. Josh Bingham added the conversion.
7 minutes later, an Oadby clearing kick was superbly taken by Ryan Milton. He ran the ball back and found Louis McGuckian who touched down.
Derby were dominating at this point and scored again after27 minutes when a high tackle stopped a certain try. The referee awarded the penalty try and brandished a yellow card, leaving Oadby to play the next 10 minutes with 14 men.
Derby were 19 – 7 up and it looked like a comfortable victory was on the cards.
Oadby had other ideas! Not only did they survive the 10 minutes without conceding, but they scored a converted try of their own.
Half time saw Derby ahead 19 – 14.
The first 25 minutes of the 2nd half were dominated by Oadby. They used their big forwards to batter away at the Derby defence and make ground. They scored 2 tries in this period, failing to convert either. This left Oadby 26 -19 ahead and Derby in danger of a damaging defeat.
With 10 minutes remaining, Derby drew level, thanks to Sam Tebbs scoring his 14th try of the season and Josh Bingham converting.
Only 3 minutes remained when Derby mounted another attack and Sam Tebbs found Lewis Hancock, who took the opportunity to score in the corner. A superb Josh Bingham conversion took Derby 7 points ahead and proved to be the final score of the game.
Derby showed great spirit to turn the game around. The forwards did very well against a much bigger pack and laid the foundations for the victory.
This win puts Derby into 2nd place with 3 games remaining in the season.
Old Northamptonians are the next visitors to Haslams, in a fortnight.
Come on Derby!
Report by: R. Bambra