Clough's side are nearer to the top half of the table than the relegation zone
Derby boss Nigel Clough was delighted with his side's battling 4-1 win over fellow strugglers Blackpool but admitted they were not at their best.
Three league wins in a row have lifted County six points above the drop zone.
But Clough told BBC Radio Derby: "There's a long, long way to go yet. We still need another 12 or 13 points.
"That is probably the poorest we have played in some ways in the last few weeks but the goals lit up the evening and it was a workmanlike performance."
Summer signing Kris Commons scored twice for the Rams and Clough was impressed by the Scotland winger.
The former Nottingham Forest star opened the scoring early on and restored their advantage with 16 minutes left, following Rob Edwards' equaliser.
And Paul Green and Nacer Barazite scored in the last three minutes to give the scoreline a flattering look.
Clough said: "For a spell in the second half it could have gone either way but once Kris put that superb second goal in we were away from there.
"What we are trying to do is get Kris the ball every single opportunity we can - to both him and Rob Hulse, because they both put in superb performances.
"Rob was battling away with the two centre-halves Kris was buzzing around him and Rob was just unlucky he didn't get a goal because he deserved one.
"Kris's goal was just unstoppable - worthy of winning the game but we are delighted we went on and got the extra goals and made it comfortable.
"Over the 90 we probably deserved a decent margin of victory because, when they equalised, they had only been in our penalty area two or three times at that point.
"Blackpool are an extremely resilient side but we kept plugging away and you always hope with the two strikers we have on the pitch that bit of quality will tell."
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