John Eustace hailed Jerry Yates as "outstanding" as he scored in a 2-0 win for Derby County over Preston that lifted them out of the Championship relegation zone.

The Rams made it four consecutive league wins to climb up to 20th in the table, with Yates ending a run of seven games without a goal in the victory at Pride Park on Wednesday.

After a tepid first half, Derby broke the deadlock three minutes into the second period when Craig Forsyth drilled through a crowd of defenders after Nat Phillips had nodded down Callum Elder's corner.

Elder and Phillips combined again for second, with Yates this time nipping in to clip his effort over David Cornell from close range.

Derby are consequently on their longest run of wins (four) since a stretch of five from February 29, 2020 to July 1, 2020, while their streak of scoring in four consecutive Championship games is their best in the competition since a run of 10 from October to December last year.

Rams boss Eustace was particularly thrilled for Yates, as he told the club's official website: "I'm absolutely delighted for him, his work rate since I've been here's been sensational. 

"He's an outstanding professional, and he certainly deserved his goal tonight after his contributions of late.

"I felt the first 15, 20 minutes we looked a little bit nervous. Preston had a lot of possession but didn't hurt us.

"I wasn't too worried about that. I knew that when we won the ball back in that first half we needed to be better with it in the final third and I think the quality then in the second half then came out. 

"The boys have worked very hard on set-pieces. It was pleasing to keep the ball alive on the two goals and I thought we were clinical tonight."