Derby manager Wayne Rooney admits he wants his team to “play on the edge” despite witnessing a sixth red card of the season in the 1-0 win over Preston.
Max Bird was sent off early in the second half after Preston had been reduced to 10 men before the interval.
Tom Lawrence got the better of Liam Lindsay, who hauled him down just outside the area when the Wales international was about to go clear in the 33rd minute, and was duly dismissed.
But Derby’s numerical advantage was wiped out in the 54th minute when Bird was shown a straight red for a crunching challenge which left Ben Whiteman needing treatment.
After the game was briefly held up when a spectator ran onto the pitch, Derby seized the momentum and deservedly went ahead in the 80th minute.
Lawrence’s corner was met by Curtis Davies and although Daniel Iversen made two superb saves and another effort was blocked, the ball broke to Ravel Morrison who slammed a volley into the roof of the net.
It was enough to secure a vital victory that leaves Derby six points from safety with six games left.
But Bird will now miss three matches and Rooney said: “It looked like a red card.
“He’s made a challenge, he has gone for the ball, he has felt he can win it and sometimes you mistime tackles.
“I did speak to the players at half-time. I said to them it is so important, we have an advantage with an extra player so it is so important we don’t waste that opportunity.
“It happened against Peterborough with Tom Lawrence and exactly what happened against Peterborough happened again.
“Of course you don’t want players getting sent off. I understand sometimes it happens, sometimes you make a challenge where you feel you can win the ball, that is part of football, part of the game.
“The players are committed, you want them to play on that edge.”
Preston manager Ryan Lowe said: “We’re disappointed. Obviously the sending-off just kills momentum and we have to adapt a little bit.
“When they lose their man you think go on the front foot, I thought it was going to affect them more than us because they needed to find the win but they found it and we didn’t.
“I thought the game was going to be seen out as a 0-0, we were cagey and I thought Derby were definitely a little bit cagey. We felt we weren’t really going to score and they weren’t going to find a way of scoring unless it was from a mistake.
“Daniel (Iversen) has made two fantastic saves but we’ve got to make sure we see that out and clear it but we didn’t and they’ve got a goal from it.
“I think the effort and determination was certainly there for us to try and get something out of the game but it’s one of those things and we have to move on very quickly because it’s gone and we’ve got to make sure we look forward to a big encounter on Tuesday night.”
