John Eustace praised his Derby side for sticking at their task and edging out Championship rivals West Brom on penalties in the Carabao Cup.
Joe Ward’s strike six minutes into added time took the first round to penalties, before Josh Vickers kept out two of Albion’s spot-kicks to help the Rams to a 3-2 shoot-out win.
Eustace said: “I’m really proud of the effort of the group.
“It was fantastic for the lads who got minutes in the legs and academy players, they kept going and stuck there in the difficult moments.
“No matter who plays we get 100 per cent from them and I was very proud of them.
“It was outstanding from Josh. He was fantastic last season, he never let us down.
“We looked at penalties before with Keith Downing (assistant). He has great experience in tournaments with England and it certainly helped tonight.”
Albion boss Ryan Mason believes his side did more than enough to win the game in normal time, having led through Aune Heggebo’s 67th-minute goal.
He added: “The nature of it and the timing of the goal was disappointing.
“It was their first shot on target and we played well, we thoroughly deserved to go through – but football can be harsh sometimes.
“It was a good performance, we deserved to win. Their keeper pulled off three or four good saves.
“We could have gone 2-0 up but it didn’t happen. But we weren’t in danger, they didn’t create a thing all night, to be honest.
“It is frustrating, disappointing, but that happens.”
