"It was a nervy 90 minutes, never mind the last 20! To be honest we felt fine, Billy always said he felt the legs would show later in the game.

"Ironically it's Stephen Pearson, one of the players we signed in January to boost the squad, who has scored the goal - so that all paid off.

"We had a feeling something special was happening when we got to the top and just kept going and going.

"Billy has been in this kind of position before and one of the things he had was experience, he was very confident, and it's worked.

"I'm just delighted for the rest of the board, the fans, everyone who's been a part of it - this is just sinking in.

"Derby has been in the Premiership before and hopefully we can take to it and give it our brand of entertainment."