Monday 15 September 2014 07:09, UK
Steve McClaren hailed his "heroic" Derby County players as they drew 1-1 away to local rivals Nottingham Forest, ending the game with 10 men.
Britt Assombalonga had fired the hosts ahead after 72 minutes in a typically feisty encounter, but McClaren's side found themselves back on terms through Ryan Shotton's scrambled effort.
Derby then had Jake Buxton shown a second yellow card with five minutes remaining on the clock and they managed to hold on for the additional eight minutes of stoppage time to secure a point.
McClaren told Sky Sports: "It was totally absorbing. Not a classic in terms of football but for a local derby, that's never going to be with a lot at stake.
"Like I said at the beginning, you can't win unless you've got 11 players on the park. Once we equalised, I thought we'd go on to win it.
"Then we dropped to 10 men - the players were heroic at the end for a good 12-15 minutes. We had to adjust with 10 men and showed great character.
"It's a big point for us."
McClaren was critical of referee Paul Tierney, although he was unable to comment on Buxton's sending-off having not watched a replay.
"I thought the referee was inconsistent in decisions," he said.
"I thought he was a little inexperience in terms of a local derby the way it was - very absorbing and very fast tempo.
"At times there were strange, strange decisions.
"I haven't seen the sending-off so I can't comment on it but over the course of the game he made some strange decisions."
