Steve McClaren labelled Derby County’s victory at Watford a “big, big three points” but admitted he thought his side had “lost our moment” following the 2-1 victory at Vicarage Road.

The Rams dominated the opening period and deservedly led at the interval through a fine Jordan Ibe strike. But the Hornets improved significantly after the break and after Gianni Munari had equalised, looked as if they could go on and beat the league leaders, before Craig Bryson secured the win with another excellent goal.

The Derby boss said: “I thought we’d lost our moment. We needed a second goal and we should have had that. The save from Chris Martin when the keeper got injured, I think that kind of turned it around a bit. But we were losing it, having dominated the game for an hour.

“ We played great possession football, some great chances, a great goal and were in the driving seat and in control. But you can’t go through 90 minutes at a place like Watford with the quality they’ve got and not expect to come under some pressure.

“We knew it was coming and for 20 minutes we had our backs against the wall and this team showed it’s got a bit of everything. (Jack) Butland made some great saves, great defending, blocks, headers to make sure that we stayed in the game. And the value of a squad in the end, [Bryson] coming off the bench, making an impact and getting the winner, so it’s a big, big three points; a statement we wanted to make after the international break.”