Nigel Clough said Sheffield United's late equaliser to deny his side all three points this afternoon should not take the gloss off an excellent away performance from his side.

The Blades struck in injury time to take a share of the spoils and Clough believes the feeling of disappointment to come away from a side occupying a playoff spot at the start of play today shows the progress which has been made at Pride Park in recent weeks.

He said: "We've played well in the last few weeks and we carried on from the Forest game today.

"It was a really good team display, it is just a shame we didn't have the points to go with it.

"It shows how far we've come in the last few weeks when we come away from the team sixth from top very disappointed we didn't win the game.

"We don't want the chins on the floor come Tuesday against Newcastle, I want to see the lads angry we let in a last minute goal and go out there and put another display in.

"Once we digest today, we will look back very pleased with the performance.

"To go in 1-0 at half-time didn't really do us justice, we needed to go on and get the second goal when were dominating the way we were."

Clough had nothing but praise for his players, including his skipper Robbie Savage who opened the scoring with a superb effort.

"It was a great strike," he said.

"He doesn't get many, but when they come they are something special."

Clough handed a debut to new loan signing Michael Tonge on the right-hand side of the midfield and the Rams boss was pleased with what he saw.

"Michael was outstanding," he said.

"It wasn't ideal out on the right for him, but he was superb."