Derby County just about got over the line against Reading on Tuesday night in League One, surviving an almighty scare from the resilient Royals to win late on courtesy of a Conor Hourihane penalty.
The slim 2-1 victory sees Paul Warne's Rams continue to keep automatic promotion rivals Bolton Wanderers at arm's length by a solitary point, the Derby boss thankful for Dwight Gayle opening the scoring to set the tone before his ex-Aston Villa midfielder ended up securing the three points from the spot.
Sonny Bradley would have been even more appreciative of Gayle and Co after his poor performance at the back against Ruben Selles' men, the former Luton Town man at risk of dropping out of the starting lineup for Saturday's huge crunch clash with Bolton consequently.
Sonny Bradley's performance vs Reading in numbers
The usually rock-solid Derby number five had a torrid time of things by his standards against Reading, his off-day exposed further when you consider Curtis Nelson and Eiran Cashin went about their business as usual alongside their out-of-sorts teammate on the night.
Whilst Nelson and Cashin won 17 duels in total, Bradley would only win four of the eight duels that came his way at Pride Park which allowed the visitors from Berkshire to grow in confidence as the underdogs attempted to spoil the Derby mood.
They did just that when opposition striker Sam Smith scored three minutes after Gayle's opening strike to level the game, Smith somehow beating the towering frame of the 6 foot 5 Bradley to head past Joe Wildsmith to restore parity – a moment in the contest Bradley won't want to look back on, weakly allowing the Reading attacker to score.
Minutes played
71
Touches
28
Accurate passes
15/27 (56%)
Possession lost
12x
Duels won
4/8 (50%)
Accurate long balls
1/4
Looking at the table above, Bradley further underwhelmed when playing out from the back for the promotion-chasing Rams – the ex-Luton man amassing four fewer touches than shot-stopper Wildsmith on the night with 28, whilst also only completing 15 accurate passes.
In stark contrast, homegrown star Cashin next to Bradley in a centre-back trio would complete double that with 32.
Derbyshire Live journalist Leigh Curtis would still generously give Bradley a 6.5/10 rating in his post-match thoughts, but did state the usually dominant defender could have 'done better' for Reading's equaliser.
Warne was forgiving of his defending, however, stating post-match: "It was our intention was to take Sonny Bradley off early. He didn't feel well before the game and then he was sick. When he came off, you could see the state of him so I forgive him for not winning his header."
As a result, Warne could be tempted to shake things up significantly when Ian Evatt's Trotters come into town for an automatic promotion showdown this coming Saturday, particularly if Bradley is still unwell.
The player who could replace Sonny Bradley
It would be an unorthodox roll of the dice by the Derby boss, but he could well like what he saw by stand-in centre-back Kane Wilson enough late on against the Royals to start him against Bolton on the weekend.
Wilson is traditionally a full-back or midfielder, yet was given a run-out alongside Nelson and Cashin in the centre-back spots late on versus Reading and performed competently to ensure the Rams were victorious at full-time.
The former Bristol City man – who did play in a one-off contest in this spot for Forest Green before relocating to Ashton Gate – would better Bradley's duels won count with five tallied up from an impressive 19-minute cameo.
Other than that, Derby are stuck when it comes to personnel who can come in and do a job away from Bradley – Warne regimented in picking his usual suspects.
Bradley could still get the nod after this off-day therefore if he recovers his fitness, but with the matches coming thick and fast that are absolutely vital to Derby's automatic promotion dreams, the Rams boss could start to spring some selection surprises.
