Derby County, looking over their shoulders at Bolton Wanderers drawing and Peterborough United losing, must have felt even more ecstatic at the final whistle last time out having beaten Leyton Orient 3-0 in League One action.
The game swung in the favour of the hosts courtesy of an early George Moncur own goal, before an unlikely goalscoring hero in Sonny Bradley managed to come up with a brace for the promotion-chasing Rams to ensure his team cruised to a big win.
The centre-back's two goals means Derby are now four points above their nearest competitors to that final automatic promotion place in Bolton, although that points advantage could be slashed to just one if the Trotters win tonight at home to Shrewsbury with Paul Warne's men not in action.
Bradley will hope he can put in more valiant displays as Derby's leading man in the heart of defence between now and the regular season being tied up at the end of this month, wanting to play Championship football again after exiting Luton Town for Derbyshire in the wake of their historic promotion feat up to the Premier League.
Sonny Bradley's record at Luton
The experienced former Hatters colossus signing on the dotted line at Pride Park last summer would have been viewed as a coup for the division, with Bradley rock solid at the back for Luton in that promotion-winning campaign when needed.
Bradley would only end up making 19 appearances for the Hatters that season, but the former Plymouth Argyle defender was so universally loved at Kenilworth Road that he would be given the captain's armband to wear when he did start away from recurring injury problems.
In total, the 6 foot 5 powerhouse would accumulate 175 appearances over five impressive seasons for Luton before dropping down to League One to line up for Warne's men.
He was prone to bagging a goal or two playing for the Hatters as well, helping himself to six goals across his lengthy Luton stay but he never quite managed to bag two strikes in one game.
Sonny Bradley's time at Derby
Bradley has instantly fit into the set-up at the third-tier promotion chasers, becoming a constant fixture in Warne's lineup that boasts similar experience to that of the former Hatters man in Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and James Collins to name but a few seasoned heads in the Rams' ranks.
The 32-year-old has made 39 appearances across all competitions to date, proving to be a fantastic bit of business for Derby having arrived as a free agent.
His standout showing against Orient wasn't just a joy to behold from a Rams perspective purely because of the two goals powered home by Bradley, with the Derby number five imperious at the back as well to help Warne's men notch up a clean sheet as well as their 26th victory of the season.
The cool 32-year-old would win nine duels to nullify Richie Wellens' men coming forward, on top of making a combined four tackles and clearances to relieve any mounting pressure on Joe Wildsmith behind him.
Minutes played
90
Goals
2
Tackles
2
Clearances
2
Duels won
9
This was the perfect response from Bradley who had to sit out the three previous League One matches before Orient owing to a red card picked up at Northampton Town, a rash moment forgotten about entirely based on this fantastic display when reintroduced back into the team.
Coming into the building for free means Bradley's transfer value since arriving at Pride Park has obviously risen, even with the defender being in the twilight of his career at 32.
His increased worth now actually puts him above Louie Sibley's own value according to Football Transfers, even with the homegrown Rams product being ten years younger than his centre-back teammate.
Sonny Bradley's increased transfer value at Derby
Bradley's estimated value comes in at €0.9M now (£769k), with Derby thankful they didn't have to pay a penny to get Bradley in through the door last year when glancing an eye at how much he would cost now.
That means Bradley is worth more than Sibley who comes in with a slightly lesser €0.7M (£598k) price tag next to his name, despite also being key to Derby's promotion efforts over the last couple of weeks.
The former Luton man even boasts a higher worth than fellow experienced teammates Collins and ex-Aston Villa midfielder Conor Hourihane, both worth €0.4m (£341k) in contrast which is around £500k less than Bradley's bumped-up valuation.
1. Max Bird
€2.1m (£1.7m)
2. Eiran Cashin
€1.8m (£1.5m)
3. Ryan Nyambe
€1.6m (£1.3m)
4. Curtis Nelson
€1.2m (£1m)
5. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing
€0.9m (£769k)
Derby could wave goodbye to all three players below Bradley's valuation this coming summer, with Sibley, Collins and Hourihane all reaching the ends of their respective contracts, but the potential Championship outfit will surely want the former Luton man to stick around with his contract in play until 2025.
Why Derby should keep hold of Bradley
If Derby are to secure promotion up to the second tier, there's nobody better than Bradley for Warne's men to rely upon to lead them up to that new challenge.
Bradley has amassed 121 of his career appearances at the level, even making two appearances in the play offs for Luton during the 2021/22 season which saw then-manager Nathan Jones come unstuck against Huddersfield Town before promotion was eventually secured the campaign after.
If the Rams are ambitious and want to kick on when making the potential leap up, moulding a team around the nous of Bradley could well be the way forward.
Before anyone with connections to Derby gets carried away, however, they still need to get over the line in their hunt to win promotion up to the second tier.
With games to follow against lowly Cambridge United and Carlisle United, Warne's men are within touching distance of moving back up to the Championship with Bradley able to then add another success of this kind to his glittering career CV in the process.
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