Coventry manager Frank Lampard hailed his team's "immense" character and talent after their 3-2 victory over Derby moved the Championship leaders 11 points clear of second-placed Millwall.
Substitute Jack Rudoni scored a brace off the bench as he returned from injury to fire Coventry to an eighth win in nine outings.
"It's a great win. Tough, tough match, tough opposition," Lampard told a news conference. "I'm delighted for us to keep the momentum that we had off the back of the international break because it shows immense character, immense talent, immense togetherness.
"It's a big win for us at this point of the season."
Ben Brereton Díaz had equalised twice for Derby after Brentford loanee Frank Onyeka's spectacular opener for the home side on 12 minutes.
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"I felt a goal was coming for Frank, he's quite hungry to get in there and got the capacity to arrive and shoot but it was a fantastic goal," Lampard said.
"I felt like it affected our performance in the first half because to go 1-0 up in a tense part of the season, it can sometimes make you take less risk and think 'let's see this through.'
"We didn't play our normal game. We played their game, which was a bigger game, which was longer balls, transition and second balls.
"They're really good at that, they do it a lot, and we can engage in that game but it's not us at our best here so there was a lot to be said at halftime. But second half, that was us."
Lampard, who led Derby to the Championship playoff final in 2019, made a triple sub just after the hour mark. Four minutes later it paid dividend as Rudoni, who had been out of action since Feb. 28, scored his first goal.
The lead lasted just nine minutes thanks to Brereton Diaz's penalty to level for a second time.
But Rudoni had other ideas as he swept home his fifth goal in his last four appearances to end a thriller.
"I'm delighted for the players that came on, especially Rudi because he wins the game individually, but let's not forget he's missed a big part of this season unfortunately for us," Lampard said.
"Other players have come in to get us to where we are now but Rudi's a fantastic player but to able to bring him on, he's so hungry, he's got such talent and wants to score goals and do everything for the team.
"We've worked hard as a squad to get it to where it is."
PA contributed to this report.