Rowett relief as Derby end winless run

The victory may have been ugly and tinged with good fortune but Gary Rowett could not have cared less at Deepdale yesterday.

After eight winless games, Rowett’s Derby arrested their slump thanks to Tom Lawrence’s free-kick and a missed Preston penalty, leaving them strongly placed to clinch a play-off spot.

“It didn’t matter how we won, how ugly the performance was,” said Rowett. “I couldn’t give a monkey’s if we didn’t play attractive football. We tried to play attractive on Friday and lost to the bottom team. It’s a massive boost and hopefully gives the players a bit of breathing space to play with more composure.”

That shocking Sunderland reverse had left Derby with little margin for error over the season’s concluding games and, when Andre Wisdom was judged to have pushed over Alan Browne after 36 minutes, Rowett admitted he feared the worst.

But Browne himself, having been kept waiting by Derby keeper Scott Carson, struck the left-hand post and the ball flew wide.

Preston’s frustrations mounted when Tom Barkhuizen was judged to have fouled former Preston forward David Nugent after 53 minutes, handing Lawrence a free-kick 25 yards from goal. Derby’s first, and only, on-target shot took a slight deflection off the wall, but should still have been dealt with by Chris Maxwell, who could only touch it into the corner of his net.

In the celebrations that followed, Lawrence broke the nose of teammate Nugent with a stray elbow, but the Derby striker insisted: “I’ll probably have two black eyes tomorrow but it’s worth it for the three points.”

“We passed the ball well and had 19 shots, but at this stage of the season all that matters is results,” said Alex Neil, the Preston manager.