Derby County writer Leigh Curtis and football editor Brian Dick hosted a Facebook Q&A on the big issues at Pride Park. Here is what was discussed…

Derby County face Barnsley this weekend as they look to maintain their charge towards automatic promotion back to the Championship.

Paul Warne’s side will be backed by 5,000 fans for the League One clash as they look to claim another scalp of a promotion rival after beating Stevenage last weekend.

As part of the build-up, Derby writer Leigh Curtis spoke to football editor Brian Dick about all things that are happening at Pride Park and there was much to discuss from Dwight Gayle’s arrival, why the Rams had to act, James Collins and that trip to Oakwell. Here’s a recap of the best bits.

READ MORE: Derby notebook: Collins injury hope, Gayle career aim, Adams admission

BD: It’s been a while, hasn’t it? But one thing that has carried on is the form with Derby racing on at the top of League One. It was Stevenage at the weekend, a game I was following remotely. I wondered whether the Steve Evans curse was going to strike again, but it didn’t, did it?

LC: It was one of the worst games of football I’ve seen this season, but in the first game between the teams at least there was action. Derby did have chances in that game but it was interesting because that game was brought up in conversation in the press conference given it was the nadir of the season.

Everyone was really angry. Paul Warne was very despondent but since then the form has been unbelievable. However, last weekend was a dreadful game. But I just thought Derby sometimes got dragged down to Stevenage’s level, particularly in the first half. They had a bit of a pep talk at half-time, but what made a huge difference were the fans. I think it was about the 60-minute mark and it just looked like Derby were wading through treacle. We were just waiting for some inspiration from somewhere, the players looked a little bit lost in terms of how they thought they could break Stevenage down, but then all of a sudden, the fans just started singing. It started in the South Stand, then it started to get louder and louder still, it started spreading to the East Stand, and then it was the West Stand and before you knew it the stadium was reverberating. It inspired the players and I think Paul mentioned it post-match in that it was probably one of the best atmospheres he’s he’s heard since he’s been at Derby. But they’re gonna need that from now until the end of the season because it’s it’s still very, very tight at the top.

BD: After that, talk turned to whether Dwight Gayle was going to be coming and what the situation was with James Collins. We had one comment saying he is a great signing. What are your thoughts and what level of contribution can we expect from him?

LC: Derby had to do something. They did want to sign Harry Leonard on deadline day from Blackburn and that deal was all agreed. Both clubs were happy, the player was happy, the agent was happy and that deal was pretty much going ahead at 5.30 pm. Then it got to about 8.30pm and Jon Dahl Tomasson decided for whatever reason that he wasn’t going to let it happen. With two and a half hours left, you are swimming against the tide to try and get something across the line so that was a blow.

But then Paul was happy with the striking options he had. James Collins was firing. Conor Washington was on his way back, Martyn Waghorn too. Nathaniel Mendez Laing could play down the middle and so could Tom Barkhuizen, so there were options there.

However, nobody envisaged or anticipated Collins getting injured because he has been so durable. That led to Derby doing a U-turn on the striker but they needed to act and do something very quickly. On Friday the deal got wrapped up and then ratified by the EFL on Monday. What Derby will be getting, I am not sure. People have made something of his goal record at Stoke, but that is the Championship and I think the gap from the Championship to League One is quite significant. You would hope that Gayle, who looked incredibly sharp on the training videos that I saw, could be like a David McGoldrick. He’s not a similar type of player to David McGoldrick in terms of how he plays, but he has got that elite-level mentality. He has played in the Premier League. He’s played in the top two tiers for most of his career. Is he going to be as explosive as he was 10 years ago with Crystal Palace? No. But he brings experience, he brings composure, and in a promotion race, I think you need players who have been in big games before.

And I would fully expect that if he’s still got the level of cunning in terms of his movement in the box, then he will score goals. It’s not as if he’s walking into a Derby team that doesn’t create chances. Only Peterborough and Bolton have scored more goals than Derby so they do score. It’s just a question of how quickly Derby can get him up to speed and whether he still has that little bedevilment that you need in the final third.