Derby beats Preston to make it four in a row
John Eustace hailed Jerry Yates as "outstanding" as he scored in a 2-0 win for Derby County over Preston North End that lifted the Rams out of the EFL Championship's relegation zone.
The Rams made it four consecutive league wins to climb up to 20th on the table, with Yates ending a run of seven games without a goal in the victory at Pride Park.
After a tepid first half, Derby broke the deadlock three minutes into the second period when Craig Forsyth drilled through a crowd of defenders after Nat Phillips had nodded down Callum Elder's corner.
Elder and Phillips combined again for second, with Yates this time nipping in to clip his effort over David Cornell from close range.
Derby's streak of scoring in four consecutive Championship games is its best in the competition since a run of 10 from October to December last year.
Rams boss Eustace was particularly thrilled for Yates.
"I'm absolutely delighted for him, his work rate since I've been here's been sensational," the former Blackburn Rovers boss said.
"He's an outstanding professional, and he certainly deserved his goal tonight after his contributions of late.
"I felt the first 15, 20 minutes we looked a little bit nervous. Preston had a lot of possession but didn't hurt us.
"I wasn't too worried about that. I knew that when we won the ball back in that first half we needed to be better with it in the final third and I think the quality then in the second half then came out.
"The boys have worked very hard on set-pieces. It was pleasing to keep the ball alive on the two goals and I thought we were clinical tonight."
