Despite the slender 1-0 scoreline, Jody Morris felt that the all-round performance represented a comfortable night for Derby County against Coventry City on Wednesday.
Bradley Johnson’s header just after the half-hour mark secured another victory for the Rams in pre-season at Nuneaton Town’s Liberty Way ground.
The Rams controlled the game and Morris felt that the result didn’t necessarily reflect the dominance that Derby had on the game.
He told RamsTV: “The conditions were difficult - extremely long grass, a very dry pitch and a team that didn’t want to come out of their half.
“They were difficult to break down at times but the lads stuck to their task well and in the end, it wasn’t comfortable in terms of the scoreline, but it was in terms of performance - it was a pleasing workout.”
Frank Lampard made 11 changes at half-time, as he sought to provide his players with a second workout of the day after a training session in the morning.
Morris said: “Today was a working day. We had a good training session in the morning and with 45 minutes here, it was a good double session.
“It was pleasing, you always want to get through the tougher days without any niggles and it looks like we have done okay tonight.”
Next up for Derby is the final game of pre-season against Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday.
Whilst the team are ultimately preparing for the opening game of the Sky Bet Championship campaign against Reading, Morris is looking at the bigger picture.
He said: “Wolves are a very good team, they showed that last year. We will try to put in a good performance, it will be similar to Southampton, I would imagine.
“It will be another game with Reading in mind, but not just that because we need to keep installing the habits that the gaffer wants the lads to pick up, that we can use throughout the season.”