Paul Warne joked that he would have scored Jerry Yates’ equaliser in Derby’s 1-1 draw with Preston.
Sam Greenwood had opened the scoring with a delightful 23rd-minute header from 15 yards out in what turned out to be a rare highlight.
Yates took advantage of sloppy North End defending with a close-range header in the 29th minute to secure a fifth draw in seven Championship matches for the Rams.
“In fairness, I’d have scored it,” the Derby head coach said. “He’s getting really good at three inches out. He’s really prolific around there but you just have to be on the move.
“Obviously, we work on set-pieces as they’re an integral part of football now and that’s great that he scored.”
His Derby team have carried their success with set-pieces up from League One where last season they scored 25 goals from dead-ball situations.
“I’m not saying we reinvented the wheel but we do a lot of it,” said Warne. “It comes down to courage, delivery, and aggression.
“I always try to sign really good people who have got something to prove and we [try to] get an aggressive bunch. I think a lot of times goals come from the fact you just want it more than the opposition.”
On the Greenwood goal, he added: “There was no challenge but that’s another conversation and then we scored at the right time to sort of quieten the crowd down a bit. They were really good at snapping at us to stop us playing shorter passes.”
Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom has only lost one league match at Deepdale since replacing Ryan Lowe in August but he still felt disappointed by the manner of the Yates goal from Ben Osborn’s free-kick.
“I’m not surprised by the game,” the Preston boss admitted. “The game was exactly as I thought. I’m just so disappointed that we got undone with what we know is their biggest threat.
“The [Greenwood] goal probably came when the game settled down a bit. After a frantic start in the first five to 10 minutes, we started making passes and we got control of the game and could start to get that spare midfielder on the outside.
“It was a goal worthy of winning a game but it is disappointing to concede a goal so quickly afterwards.”
It is now one win in seven league matches for North End and recurring issues are appearing, with weaknesses at the back becoming more noteworthy.
“Another frustration is that we’ve conceded another goal where Freddie [Woodman’s] not had a shot to save. It’s becoming a bit of a pattern and we need to be a lot stronger,” said Heckingbottom.
“I’ve said it before, when we’re not playing our best, just keep a clean sheet and have that as the base.”
Heckingbottom was full of praise for the visiting team though, adding: “If you watch Derby, you know how tough it’s going to be. That’s how they pick up points. They’ve been doing that to everyone.
“They’re involved in really tight games and they’ve come out on top because that’s what they do and that’s how they play and they’ll have more than enough points to stay in this league.”
