Ian Baraclough, the Scunthorpe manager, told his side they must repeat the level of performance that defeated Nottingham Forest in every game until the end of the season if they are to avoid relegation.
Chris Dagnall's first-half goal sealed a 1-0 win on Wednesday night, to move the Iron within four points of safety.
It followed improved performances in recent games, and - especially with a run of games at Glanford Park - Baraclough felt it was a great building block.
"It is only three points, but it is a start. We said in the dressing room that if you don't put in that amount of effort on Saturday against Derby you will get beaten. It is as simple as that," he said.
"This was everything we showed in the Cardiff game and more. And again if they don't reproduce that on Saturday they will get beaten because that is the sort of division it is.
"From now until the end of the season we've got to put out that level of performance and get some consistency."
The Forest boss Billy Davies felt his side should have defended better in the run-up to the Iron's goal.
"You'll have seen this Scunthorpe team at Cardiff and they lost to a late goal: I said before the game they were scrapping for everything," he said.
"We've given a goal away from naive play, stupid play, and we talked about that before the game.
"Then we spend the rest of the time controlling possession and having many chances, but it just seemed as if it was one of those nights where it didn't quite go for us."