Goalscorer David Nugent admitted Derby County rode their luck against Norwich City but hailed the Rams' 2-1 victory as a "great result".
Nugent put the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time in Saturday's Sky Bet Championship encounter at Carrow Road.
Timm Klose levelled for the Canaries but substitute Sam Winnall netted Derby's winner seven minutes from time.
Norwich hit the woodwork in the first half and also had a big penalty shout turned down when Rams goalkeeper Scott Carson tangled with Josh Murphy in the box.
"It was a great result - and an important one," Nugent told the Derby Telegraph.
"In the first half, I don't think we were at our best.
"I think the goal saved us from the gaffer's half-time team talk, to be honest!
"We went in 1-0 up, which gave us something to hold on to.
"In the second half, I think we sat back a little bit, which you tend to do when you're winning away from home.
"I think we were a bit too deep but once they scored, they seemed to stop attacking and sat back a little bit more.
"They were happy with the draw but Sam came on and made a fantastic impact, scoring the winner we fully deserved."
Norwich left-back Marco Stiepermann saw his first-half effort crashed against the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down just the right side of the line from Derby's point of view.
"When they hit the crossbar, I thought it was in. I was walking back to the centre circle ready to kick off again," said Nugent.
"The lino never flagged, though, so we played on.
"So we rode our luck a little bit, which you have to do at times away from home.
"We rode our luck, got the goal and it gave us something to hang on to."
As for Nugent's view on the penalty shout, the striker added: "I think Scotty has won the ball, to be honest. The ball was moving in a different direction, so we got away with that one.
"I think the ref (Peter Bankes) got it right.
"It was a tough one, because the fans were getting on the referee's back but I think he had a solid performance."
The mood of the Norwich fans was not improved when Nugent broke the deadlock in the first minute of added time at the end of the first half.
Richard Keogh's pass was stepped over by Tom Huddlestone, causing Christoph Zimmermann to miss his attempted interception.
The ball ran to Nugent, who took a touch before curling a lovely 20-yard shot beyond keeper Angus Gunn.
"It was a great ball by Keezy and a great 'overs' by Tom," said the former England international. "I actually told Tom to have a touch but he said my Scouse accent is so bad that he thought I said 'over'!
"So he left it, I took a touch in front of the defender and managed to whip it into the top corner.
"It's always nice when the keeper dives and gets nowhere near it, because it makes it look that little bit more special.
"It was a great finish and all-round team goal."