Nugent: “That Was More Like It!”

David Nugent felt Derby County were back to their old selves as they ground out a much-needed 1-0 victory at Preston North End on Easter Monday.

Tom Lawrence’s second-half free-kick proved to be the difference as Gary Rowett’s side ended their eight-game run without a win with a classic away-day performance.

The hosts spurned a golden chance to take the lead towards the end of first half when Alan Browne missed a penalty after he was fouled in the box by Andre Wisdom.

Derby went on to take control after the break and Lawrence struck the only goal of the game seven minutes after half-time to complete the Rams’ first double of the campaign.

Rowett’s men had to dig deep as they came under some pressure late on, but they stood firm to pick up a vital three points in their quest to finish in the Sky Bet Championship’s top-six.

Derby’s players were fired up to produce a response following the disappointing 4-1 home defeat to Sunderland on Good Friday - and they responded to the rallying cry from their manager.

Nugent, who produced a tireless performance in attack against his former club, felt the Rams showed the battling qualities which were on display during the side’s rise up the table earlier in the campaign.

He told RamsTV after the final whistle: “It was a much-needed win for us and especially after the Sunderland game on Friday night.

“It was a horrible game to be involved in, even coming off the bench, but hopefully we’ve started to put that right with this win.

“I think we needed to prove people wrong and show we still have it in us to win games and keep a clean sheet as well.

“It wasn’t prettiest but it felt like the Derby of earlier on in the season when we were grinding results out, especially by not conceding and counter-attacking against teams so well.

“Once we took the lead today it felt to me like the old Derby was coming back. We were under a bit of pressure near the end but we showed that fight and determination to see it out.”

He added: “We defended with all our hearts today and you could see with the celebrations at the end what it meant to us all; we needed that win.”

Nugent felt Lawrence’s goal was perfectly struck as the Welshman’s strike got the better of Chris Maxwell between the posts for the home side.

The dip that former Manchester United youngster got on the ball caught the home goalkeeper off guard and he was powerless to stop the ball finding the bottom corner.

The goal also came at a price for the 32-year-old – who took a heavy blow to his nose from the goalscorer during the celebrations that followed.

He said: “I’m pleased for Tom; it was a great strike.

“He works on his free-kicks and stuff like that in training and he hit that one really well today. It dipped just in front of the goalkeeper and although he got a touch it was so pleasing to see it hit the net.

“I ended up with a smack on the nose from Tom’s elbow during the celebrations. I’ll probably have two black eyes tomorrow morning but I’ll take that all day long if it means we get the win!”

Nugent hopes Browne’s missed spot-kick could be the stroke of luck Derby needed to turn their form around after a frustrating few weeks.

After returning to winning ways the experienced striker says it’s vital that the Rams don’t let their hard work go to waste when they face Bolton Wanderers at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

He said: “We had a bit of luck with the missed penalty but that’s probably what we’ve not had lately to be honest.

“We had nothing to lose in a way today because people wrote us off beforehand.

“I felt we were a bit tentative in the first half but, as I said earlier, once Tom Lawrence scored the confidence came back into us.

“Now we need to go and produce again on Saturday against Bolton at Pride Park.”