Assistant head coach Richie Barker was delighted Derby kept their play-off bid on track following a gritty 2-1 win at Exeter.

After a passive first half, two goals form striker David McGoldrick – which takes him to 21 for the season – put the Rams in control, but Jack Sparkes’ header 12 minutes from time led to a spirited fightback from Exeter.

Despite plenty of possession, though, they could not find an equaliser and the win keeps Derby on the coat-tails of those teams just above them in the play-off zone.

“It feels like a big three points for us,” Barker said. “Two away games in four days and four points – we have a long journey back now – was extremely hard work from the players.

“We went with fresh legs and I thought the ads were excellent. We were slow starting, but we talked about a few things at half-time and I thought we were by far the better team in the second half.

“I thought we deserved to win the game and it should have been more comfortable and (conceding) the goal was disappointing.

“In the first half, we tried to change the shape and have more numbers up top and without creating a great deal of chances, it wasn’t great, but it was a good away 45 minutes.

“Second half, I thought we should have won the game comfortably.

“If you want someone on the end of a free-kick, then you want it to be David. I thought he was excellent and I think that’s four in three he’s got now. It’s a good run for him and in fairness, he played 90 minutes the other day and near-on 90 minutes again today, so I’m pleased for him that those goals keep adding up.”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell had a different outlook on the game.

He said: “I thought we played really well in possession for large periods, especially in the first half when I thought we were excellent. We gave them a lot of problems and we had a great chance with Josh Key, but it was an unbelievable save from the goalkeeper (Joe Wildsmith) and we restricted them to very little.

“We lost our way for 10, 15 minutes at the start of the second half and started going a bit too long and we didn’t have the personnel on the pitch to do that.

“It was in that period we conceded two goals – two poor goals from our point of view – and then all credit to the players, I thought we had a great reaction and when the game looked finished, we score and create opportunities and felt we could still get something from the game.

“We were missing some key players and the firepower we have missing is incredible. They have top quality at the other end of the pitch and you could see that tonight, but all credit to the players for the way they tried to play.”