Defender Nat Phillips lauded Derby County’s resilience and fight as they secured a 1-0 win at Hull City in their final away game of the 2024/25 Sky Bet Championship season on Saturday.
Phillips scored his first goal for Derby to give the Rams all three points in a crucial fixture in the fight to stay in the Sky Bet Championship.
The on-loan Liverpool defender rose highest in the penalty area to meet Craig Forsyth’s precise free-kick delivery in the 84th minute - the only goal of the game.
It leaves Derby in 19th place heading into the final matchday where they will host Stoke City at Pride Park Stadium next Saturday (12:30pm kick-off).
Phillips caught up with RamsTV after the win against the Tigers.
On scoring his first goal for the club to seal the win against Hull City…
It feels great. I've had a few of the lads getting on to me about the fact that I hadn't scored, and obviously I've had to stay patient. It felt like it had been coming. Ebou Adams has been telling me I needed to score I told him all along that when it comes, I'll make sure it's an important one!
Fozzy did everything for me, to be honest, with the ball in. I just had to make sure I got my head on it. It felt like the ball was coming in slow motion because I knew the second it left his foot I would get on the end of it. It was in a great spot for me, so I just had to concentrate on getting it in the net.
On strength of character being crucial to the win…
Resilience, first and foremost, has been key. Hull started quickly, they started well. There were a few moments where we were up against it, and we did well to stay resilient and keep them out. Keeping that belief throughout the game that we would get our chance was important. We just had to keep believing that our moment would come. It's a great dressing room and over the last few weeks we've had to stay strong and keep disciplined, which we've done. Everyone's willing to work their socks off to make sure we achieve our goal.
On still having work to do against Stoke City next week…
Today's a great day, but we've still got another big and important game to finish the season strongly now.
