He told Chad after a last minute penalty save denied the underdogs a deserved draw: "I am not really interested in results at the moment, just performances and seeing the lads get their touch.

• Mansfield Town 2 Derby County 3

"I can remember as a player losing every pre-season game and winning the Championship.

"But it would have been nice to win and I thought we might at least get a draw at the end with the penalty.

"The young lads did well in the second half and Goward could have been a hero if he'd scored that penalty. He certainly deserved to take it.

• Click the green 'play' icon to listen to Chad sports editor John Lomas conduct an audio interview with Billy McEwan.

"All credit to both sets of supporters for turning out. It was a good crowd. We could be taking on easier opposition than that at the moment, but we are fulfilling fixtures that were here when I took over and Derby are a very good side who caused us a lot of problems.

"We looked solid in the first half. But I had to make the changes after half time to give players that needed a game some action.

"Also, we have another big game on Monday night so I had to be careful. And it was very warm out there."