Relegated Luton manager Kevin Blackwell has been assured he will be granted the funds needed to stage a promotion push out of League One next season.

The Hatters' Championship demise was confirmed at Pride Park where promotion-chasing Derby secured a 1-0 win thanks to Lewin Nyatanga's first-half goal.

Basement side Town's defeat left them eight points short of safety with only two games of the season remaining, though Blackwell confirmed he and newly-installed chairman David Pinkney were already plotting a resurgence.

Blackwell said: "Was it an impossible job when I took over? Let us say I am just 26 days into the job and it has been interesting.

"I know coming straight back up after relegation will be difficult for us because it is not the norm for teams to bounce straight back and we will be seen as a scalp in League One next season.

"But let me tell you, it hurts to be relegated and I have not come to Luton Town to sit in the lower echelons of English football.

"The new chairman is a dynamic chairman with a business brain who has high demands of the players, but I know there is application and no little skill at the football club - we just have to add some experience.

"The new chairman wants a new stadium, a new training ground and has given me the opportunity to rebuild the club from top to bottom, but we will also need funds to strengthen and he has assured me those funds will be made available.

"It is no secret Luton have sold strikers worth £4million in the last 12 months and they have not been replaced.

"That is going to hurt you."

Meanwhile, Derby climbed from third to second in the table behind leaders Sunderland, though the Rams will nevertheless be overhauled by Birmingham should Blues win or draw at Wolves on Sunday.

However, Pride Park boss Billy Davies said: "There is not a chance of me watching the Wolves-Birmingham game, I will try and spend some time with my family or have a round of golf instead.

"What happens at Molineux has no bearing on what happens with us, I simply see us having two games left in which we will be pushing for automatic promotion.

"In Sunderland and Birmingham we are competing with two clubs who were in the Premiership last season but we are already assured of a play-off place and we are delighted about that."

Wales international Nyatanga netted in his comeback game after having been recalled from loan at Barnsley this week.

And Davies said: "It was not a tactical masterstroke to bring him back - it was a case of needs must because we had lost Darren Moore to suspension and Michael Johnson to injury."