Stoke City continued their good form with a hard-fought win at injury-ravaged Derby County, where former Potter John Eustace is under pressure

John Eustace must be thinking he's made a rod for his own back by continually demanding a no excuse culture at Derby County.

Eustace encourages players to take responsibility - and holds up his hands himself when things go wrong - but even so, he went into Saturday's home match against Stoke City without his first choice goalkeeper and striker and almost his entire defence in the treatment room.

It was a tired game at the end of three matches in eight days and Stoke edged the victory with a Luke Graham header from a set-piece and Viktor Johansson saving brilliantly from David Ozoh at the death. There were few other moments when a goal seemed likely.

It meant that Stoke have won six out of eight while Derby have won one out of 11 and have picked up two points out of 18 available at Pride Park. Derby's approach might have been better than it was in the first half of a 4-1 mid-week loss at Queens Park Rangers but patience is wearing thin.

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Eustace said: "We asked for a reaction after Wednesday's first 45 minutes, and I think we certainly got that. I was very proud of the effort of the group. We battled against a really good team and limited them to next to nothing. We had some decent chances ourselves, so to lose the game is frustrating.

"For the goal, I think it's a foul when you watch it back. The defender pushes Ryan (Hedges) over so he's on the ground when he actually heads it.

"It's a blatant foul, but even so, somebody else could hopefully stick their head on the line and clear it, but it is what it is at the moment. We're not getting much luck."

Eustace appears pretty calm on the surface but that long injury list was compounded by a summer takeover that didn't happen and very late business in the transfer window.

He said in his post-match press conference: "I am frustrated and angry. It's a frustrating period, but this is the Championship. Teams go through periods like this. I think we've got a valid reason why it's been difficult, and we've got six or seven starters who would probably come into the team and make us stronger, if not coming off the bench, which would certainly help as well.

"With the effort of the group up to now, we could have easily got a couple more wins and a few more points. It's just important that we keep believing in the process and keep believing in what we're doing.

"We obviously recruited very late, didn't we? The injuries haven't helped as well. The lads have worked as hard as they can, and they've been terrific. Over the course of 46 games, we'll end up where we deserve to be, and we're going through a difficult period at the moment.

"Ultimately, it's my job to win games, whether I've got 10 injuries and 10 transfers in. If you lose, it doesn't matter - there are no excuses. My head's on the door, and I understand that we've got to win games; we haven't won enough games at the moment, and it's my responsibility."