YOUNG defender Mark O'Brien was saluted for his "unbelievable character" after he helped Derby County end their barren spell in away games.
The 20-year-old made his first start in more than a year in the 2-0 victory over Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Saturday.
He dragged himself through 87 gruelling minutes before he finally succumbed to cramp.
Despite struggling with his fitness at various times in the game, he dug in and played a key role in securing the Rams' first clean sheet on the road since the end of September.
O'Brien's performance brought glowing praise from manager Nigel Clough.
"He was tremendous," said Clough.
"He was struggling at half-time, so we said 'just get back out for 10 or 15 minutes'.
"He was then struggling at the 70-minute mark but we told him 'you're going to have to stay on'.
"He then succumbed to cramp in the end but he showed unbelievable character to play for so long because 13 months since a start is a long, long time at this level."
O'Brien's previous start for the first-team was in a home defeat by Hull City in November last year, a few weeks before he was sidelined by a serious knee injury that ended his season.
He returned for pre-season training but still felt some discomfort in his knee and has been eased back into action.
He had made only three appearances as a substitute this season before Saturday when he got the nod ahead of James O'Connor to replace the injured Jake Buxton at centre-back.
"We were considering putting Jimmy in at centre-back and we possibly might have done at home," said Clough.
"We just thought with the aerial threat they had – from Jon Stead, Steven Davies and Ryan Taylor, the two centre-halves coming up and Marvin Elliott as well – we needed Mark's heading ability out there.
"When Mark went down with cramp, the crowd were shouting at him but he genuinely had cramp. We weren't time-wasting and we were telling the fourth official that this was his first game in over a year!
"We didn't know who to bring off in the last 10 minutes because Will (Hughes) was struggling with his ankle, Gareth Roberts' calf tightened up, Mark O'Brien was struggling as was Conor Sammon with his calf.
"We could have brought three or four off because we had almost half the side not fully fit."
Ben Davies came on after 67 minutes to replace Craig Bryson, who had returned to the team after he missed two matches with a knee injury.
O'Connor and Kieron Freeman also came off the bench late on.
"That is why substitutes are always important, whether they play for five minutes or more," said Clough.
"You saw Jimmy O'Connor come on. He was disappointed not to start but came on and won a couple of headers and tackles. That is vital because if you miss one of those its suddenly 2-1 with five minutes to go and anything can happen.
"I thought Ben Davies was tremendous when he came on and Kieron as well."
