Boss Mick McCarthy was delighted with his side’s response to going a goal down to Derby in the opening minute, but most of all with their second three-point haul against a fellow play-off contender in four days. The Blues are now eighth, two points from sixth.
"The result pleased me most, of course,” he said. "But other than that the response we gave to conceding a goal after less than a minute.
"The way we responded in the second half was more like us. I didn’t think we’d laid a finger on them in the first half. I think they were able to play and little Jonny was getting kicked from pillar to post and it was us picking ourselves up off the floor. I think we’ve deserved it in the second half.”
After he was booked for shoving winning goalscorer Christophe Berra early on, the Town crowd called for former Norwich man Chris Martin to be shown a second yellow card for what they felt was a later first-half foul on the Scottish international, but McCarthy felt otherwise.
"I don’t think Martin had sinned on Christophe Berra too much, there was nothing in that at all,” he said. "They were all baying for blood. He actually pulled out of it, Martin.
"He’s a good player, I thought he was excellent in the first half. Not so in the second because I thought Christophe and Tommy sorted that out.
"And if you’re going to get kicked from pillar to post, the best way to get your own back is to put the ball in the net, like little Jonny did. He was fab.”
The Town boss wasn’t sure whether Craig Bryson should have been sent off for his high challenge on Williams just before the break: "There were quite a few, I don’t know which one you mean. I don’t know. But it’s a sign of a good player when people kick him and he is a good player.”
After picking up six points from back-to-back games against other teams in the play-off mix McCarthy says he’s pleased with the way the Blues continue to accumulate points as they close in on the top six with eight games to go: "I keep saying you just keep ticking away trying to pick up points. We’ve just had two really tough games.
"I’m also pleased with Anthony Wordsworth, who I thought was different class, I’m pleased with him.
"Frank Nouble was excellent as well coming on, but Woody’s had two really good games from being out of the wilderness. To come back and play as well as he’s done, I’m delighted for him and delighted with him.
"Big Frank, that’s the way to respond when he came on and Sylv was unlucky with his header. It’s nice when you get a positive contribution from substitutes when they come on.”
The Town boss had further praise for Berra: "He’s been awesome this season, he’s been outstanding. It was quite fitting that he got the winner.
"We’ve had some good candidates [for Player of the Year] in the back four but even more so Christophe because he plays on the right-hand side and he’s not as comfortable there as he would be on the left, but he’s been outstanding.”
Regarding skipper Luke Chambers’s early exit, he explained: "He had blurred vision when he first came across [to the bench] and he was just starting not to be able to see properly.”
Derby boss Steve McClaren felt his side ought to have won: "We didn’t deserve to lose. We controlled the game, we played great football, created chances, but there wasn’t enough care in the final third.
"We kind of caused our own problems in the end. I don’t think Lee Grant had a shot to save apart from picking the ball out of the net from two set plays.
"I said at half-time that we made a great start, we controlled the game and we’ve got to be ruthless and get the second goal. We had opportunities and in the end we’ve paid the price for that.”
Elsewhere, Elliott Hewitt played the full 90 minutes as Gillingham won 1-0 at the MK Dons in League One, while Freddie Veseli also played the full game as Bury drew 0-0 at Newport in League Two.