Burnley boss Sean Dyche was full of praise for Derby after his side's goalless draw at the iPro Stadium.
Dyche, who lost his captain Jason Shackell to the Rams during the summer, saw his team on the back foot for much of the match but, until late in the game, the Clarets contained the host's threat as goalkeeper Tom Heaton was not troubled.
It became end-to-end stuff in the final 15 minutes as Derby tried to turn the screw and Tendayi Darikwa nodded a Richard Keogh header off the line before Heaton athletically repelled efforts from George Thorne and Chris Martin.
Dyche has won promotion from the Championship with Burnley and he was impressed by Derby, who he thinks are more than capable of emulating his 2013-14 team.
"They are a good side, make no doubt about that, you can see why they are the market leaders," said Dyche.
"They have a very good young, up and coming manager, they've spent £20million, and we've had a go ourselves by the way, spending half of that, and you can see why everyone is talking about them.
"The club is geared up to do it (win promotion) but as we all know, it's not as easy as being geared up to do it. But there are some very good things happening here, you can tell."
Burnley kept only their second clean sheet of the season and Dyche, a former defender, was pleased with his side's defensive display.
" After a decent first half, which I actually thought we edged, they (Derby) were very good in the second half," he said.
"They pressed us and kept the ball and came at us but you have to find ways of getting through games like that and that's what we did.
"Our defensive display from the back five was absolutely outstanding. I felt we kept them out of the box a lot.
"We couldn't attack as much as we'd liked. I told my players to remember to defend but you've also got to play. I said to them at half-time we need to find that balance, but give credit to Derby for that."
Paul Clement's wait for a first home win as Derby head coach goes on but he is not worried just yet.
Clement enjoyed back-to-back victories, his first since taking charge during the summer, in the two matches since the resumption of the league programme following the international break but the former Chelsea, Paris St Germain and Real Madrid assistant has still not tasted success in four outings at the iPro Stadium, drawing three times.
The 43-year-old thinks teams are setting up to stifle Derby and he knows his team must find a way of overcoming this.
" I can't be disappointed with the performance but I am disappointed with the result," said Clement.
" It was clear one team was trying to win the game and one was happy with the draw.
"W e aren't going to get desperate or panic, maybe the supporters might start to worry. But if we weren't creating chances and opportunities then maybe we might think there's something wrong here, but we are doing that from lots of different areas of the field and lots of different combinations.
"We're seeing a common pattern now, especially when we play at home, that teams are looking to defend deep and counter attack and try to get opportunities from set-plays. We've seen it from Middlesbrough, we've seen it from Charlton and Burnley and away with Reading and Birmingham. We have to practise more to overcome it."
Source: PA
