Derby boss John Eustace was proud of his players as they made it three wins on the spin to edge a late 3-2 Championship victory away to relegation rivals Plymouth.
Marcus Harness scored a double for the visitors as he netted either side of Harrison Armstrong, who made it 2-0 after 26 minutes.
Mustapha Bundu’s direct free-kick made it 2-1 at half-time before an own goal by Nat Phillips levelled the scores at the start of the second half.
Eustace said: “I am very proud of the effort of the group. I thought we battled really well against a really difficult opponent. Plymouth are very good at home so we’re really pleased to win.
“We had to stick in there, hang on in there. We started the game really well in the first half-an-hour, we dominated with and without the ball.
“The goal they scored was a fantastic finish but a really cheap foul that we gave away and it gave them a lifeline. So to go into half-time 2-1 up was disappointing.
“The way we started the second half wasn’t good enough. Then we were under a bit of pressure, I don’t think our keeper had too many saves to make but you are always going to get pressure here.
“I was very proud of the way the boys stuck to their task and to score in the last minute was pleasing.
“With the change of shape when they were really going for it, we dropped into a 5-4-1 and to score the way we did was really pleasing.
“The Championship is relentless, anyone can beat each other. It is important you don’t get carried away, the highs and the lows, it is a really difficult league and there’s so much we have to keep improving on.
“I was really pleased with the result today. Plymouth are a really good side and tough to beat at home and to come away with all three points is good.”
Argyle boss Miron Muslic viewed the match as a “six-pointer” and was disappointed with the result but urged the players, staff and fans to have belief in their fight for survival.
He said: “It feels big. We gave away two easy goals, from throw-ins we simply could not defend.
“Then you are 2-0 down in a six-pointer knowing this is a big one, this is an important game.
“But actually there was a response. That’s very positive because we refused to give up this game.
“It’s not easy to score two goals but we did it. We managed to score a goal through Mustapha and I think we showed in the second half – after we scored – we could defend better and turn it into an attack quickly and a possible win.
“We knew it was a six-pointer and you have to go all in. I think the third goal was a summary of the day, we had three chances to clear the ball and we didn’t and they scored.
“In the end we could not defend the third goal.
“We are in the situation we could not give anything away but we gave away three goals. It feels like we gave them the goals on a silver plate.
“We are all suffering together. The staff, the players, the fans.
“Right now we are all disappointed. But we have to believe, strange things happen in football, so we have to believe.”
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