Norwich’s on-loan defender Rob Edwards is confident he is closing in on a second successive Premier League promotion.

Edwards replaced the injured Zak Whitbread (hip) for the final frenetic 30 minutes of yesterday’s stunning 3-2 Championship win over Derby at Carrow Road which kept the Canaries in an automatic promotion spot.

The 28-year-old went up with Blackpool through the play-offs last season but believes Paul Lambert’s side can go one better with City now just two wins from the top flight after Simeon Jackson’s memorable hat-trick sunk the Rams.

He said: “Having been involved with Blackpool last season I know what it is like and what it takes. These next two games are huge. If we win them both we’re there so it speaks for itself. It’s huge. We just want to be going into that last game of the season knowing we are ahead because then it’s in our own hands.

“With us scoring so late I’m sure the other teams around us will be a bit deflated. Cardiff won, they did their job, so I guess they must go into games assuming we will win, as we do. You can’t look too much at what the other teams are doing. We just have to keep single-minded. We’ve got Portsmouth next and that is a very, very tough place to go. They have some very good players, lads who were in the Premier League. On their day I think they can beat anyone but we will go looking for the three points.”

Edwards was denied a potential match-winner when Derby keeper Brad Jones produced a superb reaction stop to keep out his point blank header in a pulsating second-half.

He said: “I don’t know how the keeper saved it because I was off and away celebrating. It didn’t really matter in the end because we got that winning goal. I just thought with 15, 20 minutes still left we would get another chance. It’s brilliant, it just shows the never-say-die spirit. It shows that great team spirit is there and the will to win. We’ve got everything we need to get automatic promotion. When the last goal went in I just jogged over and almost got dragged into the crowd but it was brilliant, great scenes. To win it like that gives everyone a great feeling.

“I’m just dying for the boys to do it now and willing them on. Everyone wants to play but it doesn’t matter at this stage of the season. If you’re not you just go out and support the boys and be ready when you are called on. At the moment it’s really enjoyable.”

Edwards believes City can travel to Fratton Park buoyed by the red-hot form of Canadian international Simeon Jackson who took his recent tally to eight goals in six games.

He said: “I was just saying it in the changing room, but he has been brilliant in my time here. He is so sharp at the minute and he is doing what he does in training out on the pitch now.

“I’m really happy for him because he is a really good lad. He just seems to be in the right place at the right time. You need that in a goalscorer.

“Holty (Grant Holt) has been doing it all year and now to have someone else taking on that role gives you so much confidence that the goals will come.”