After missing out on transfer targets including David Nugent and Kenwyne Jones, Miller finally arrived for around £3million from Celtic hours before the transfer window shut.

Davies said: “I was a bit (surprised to get him) to be honest with you because I’d seen some of his games up there and he played very well.

“He is what he is. He’s an international striker and he’s scored goals at every level.

“He has the ability and the pace we need. We identified plenty of other players and we are disappointed we haven’t got one or two more but that is for very different reasons.

“I’m certainly delighted to have Kenny.”

Miller’s opportunistic strike in the opening 15 minutes of the second half was the moment of magic Derby needed to kickstart a campaign from which they had gained one point from five outings.

Now Davies is keen on keeping his prize asset fit.

He went off in the second half as a precaution having missed Scotland’s victory over France in Paris last week with a niggling hamstring complaint.

“He’s still struggling for match fitness,” added Davies.

“I said to him at half-time he had to tell us (if he was feeling it) because we didn’t want to push him too far. But it was nice to get as much as we got from him.”

The former Preston boss also had words of encouragement for Miller’s strike partner Steve Howard, who missed a handful of glorious opportunities to kill the game from close range.

“I’ve said to him in the dressing room that there’ll be plenty of opportunities,” he added.

“He could have had two or three, we could have had four or five, but it was a great three points and, more important, a great performance.”