Paul Lambert believes his Blackburn side are heading in the right direction despite a 1-0 defeat at Derby, who moved up to fifth in the Championship.
The Blackburn boss was encouraged by the performance although his players left the iPro Stadium empty-handed after Jacob Butterfield's superb strike gave Derby back-to-back wins and a first home victory since Boxing Day.
Butterfield handed Derby the perfect start when he turned on a headed clearance just outside the area to send a left-footed shot flashing past Jason Steele's dive in the eighth minute.
It was a quality finish but little else on the night matched it with Danny Graham, who had a spell on loan with Derby in 2005, wasting a great chance in the 32nd minute when he fired over from 10 yards.
Derby had opportunities to ease their nerves in the second half, with Johnny Russell denied by a great tackle from Shane Duffy before Chris Martin was foiled by a diving save from Steele.
It needed a flying save from Scott Carson to claw away a Ben Marshall free-kick in the 72nd minute and there was a late scare for Derby in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Jordi Gomez headed against the top of the bar from a corner.
Lambert said: "I think we deserved to win the game, I think Blackburn Rovers were the better team, I really do. I am proud of the way they played, there's a way to lose a game and I thought we were excellent.
"We have been playing well for a few weeks, there were some big performances, and I think the lads are starting to play. We played ever so well and there was a lot of edginess in the stadium.
"We had some great positions and maybe the one thing you could say was we never had the right weight of pass or the right decision but other than that, for work rate and endeavour, we couldn't ask for any more."
Derby head coach Darren Wassall was full of praise for the way his team protected Butterfield's strike. He said: "You saw both sides of Derby County tonight. A brilliant goal by Butterfield, good enough to win any game and in the first half we played some really good football going forward.
"In the second half you saw the other side of the team which was full of character, resilience, determination and desire to keep the ball out of the back of the net.
"We challenged the players before the game that we would like a clean sheet and I thought the two centre-halves were magnificent, they headed everything. Blackburn threw everything into the box and I thought we defended magnificently.
"We are really pleased with that part of the side and that performance in the second half got us the result. That's six points in two games, back-to-back wins home and away and I'm very pleased for the players because they've put in a shift and have been brilliant in the last two games."
Source: PA
