Norwich boss Philippe Clement hails his side’s character after they beat Derby

Norwich head coach Philippe Clement paid tribute to his side’s character after seeing them recover from an early penalty miss to beat promotion-chasing Derby 2-1 at Carrow Road – and keep their own slim play-off  hopes alive.

In-form Mohamed Toure fluffed his lines in the eighth minute when his spot-kick was brilliantly saved by Jacob Zetterstrom after Amankwah Forson had been fouled.

But that did not affect the confidence of the hosts as they continued to press, with the Australian striker blasting into the roof of the net from a tight angle to make it nine goals in 11 appearances since his January move.

Derby levelled on 54 minutes when David Ozoh fired home after Kenny McLean had been caught in possession but Norwich hit back quickly, with Liam Gibbs curling home what proved to be the winner on the hour mark.

“This squad has come on in leaps and bounds from a tactical point of view but it has also come on mentally as well,” said Clement.

“They had a setback early on but they didn’t let it affect them. They kept going and in the end got the result I think we deserved. That is an attitude that needs to stay in their heads going forward.

“I think we should have scored a few more goals to make life easier for us, and Vlad (Kovacevic) had to make some really good saves, but overall I am very pleased.”

Norwich are six points adrift of the top six with just two games left, but still have outside hopes of reaching the play-offs because of a good goal difference.

“It can be a really exciting end to the season for us,” said Clement. “But all I am going to say about the table at the moment is that this result means we are certain to finish in the top 12, which is an improvement on last season.”

Derby head coach John Eustace refused to write off his own side’s play-off chances after seeing them fall four points off the pace.

“It’s not over till it’s over, this is the Championship,” he said. “We’ve got another tough game (at QPR) on Saturday and we’ll go there fully committed looking for three points.

“I thought the attitude of the players tonight was fantastic. Everyone knows how stretched we are at the moment but we went head to head with a team with a very strong squad and I think we should have taken something from the game.

“I was pleased with the game plan in the first half but when we got the ball we didn’t use it well enough.

“It was a lot better in the second half and having got it back to 1-1 it was disappointing to concede what was, from a defensive point of view, a very sloppy goal.

“I’m disappointed we only scored once and at the other end Jacob (Zetterstrom), after making a fantastic save from the penalty, didn’t have too much else to do until the end.”