Nigel Clough hailed his 'most pleasing' three points yet as a 2-1 defeat failed to improve Gary Johnson's mood.
Johnson rues failure to take chances
Nigel Clough hailed his 'most pleasing' three points yet as Derby County boss, as a 2-1 defeat failed to improve Bristol City manager Gary Johnson's mood.
Rob Hulse grabbed an 85th-minute winner for the Rams at Pride Park, just two minutes after Gavin Williams had cancelled out Chris Porter's early opener.
Rams chief Clough was buoyed by the manner of the result following his side's 2-2 draw with Swansea City in midweek.
"Without a doubt it is the most pleasing three points since I have been here," said Clough.
Evened out
"It was the way we achieved it without playing great and taking the game to the opposition, and all the other qualities that we hadn't shown in abundance in the last few weeks came to the fore.
"In some ways I think it has evened itself out after midweek. The way the games went you might have thought we would have got three points on Tuesday and a point today, but it turns out the other way around.
"Although we spent the majority of the game defending, in the second half we still created some very good chances.
"Albeit they were on the break, and even though we don't particularly want to play like that, especially in front of our own supporters, needs must I'm afraid."
He added: "Chris Porter got a knock on his hip just before half-time and although we had a couple of strikers on the bench, we thought we might need Andy Todd a bit more.
"We hope it's not serious but we will have to see how it settles down on Monday.
"Jay McEveley has a tight hamstring so that's another two to add to a growing injury list.
"It will see our efforts to get someone in on loan step up and we hope to do that by Monday."
Disappointed
The defeat for City followed on from a 1-0 loss at Birmingham City on Wednesday night and Johnson was left to rue the failure to convert the chances his team created.
"It has not improved my mood because whenever you lose you are going to be disappointed," said Johnson.
"But sometimes it is the way you lose and we lost better here as against Birmingham we really didn't give it a go.
"We had a lack of concentration in the first minute but it gave us 80-odd minutes to get back into the game and I think the lads did everything they could apart from sticking the ball in the back of the net.
"We had plenty of opportunities but goals count and although we had all the possession and chances and crosses into the box, it doesn't help us with the three points.
"But what it does do is help us to go into the next game knowing that we have got our football back a little bit."
