"Obviously it's a relief," said Coppell.
"But it's only in the system because people talk about conceding seven goals like someone has died.
"It's football, and I bet there won't be many teams who go there and score four and also miss a penalty.
"It's not the end of the world to get beaten - we could lose 20 games and have a good season.
"At Crystal Palace, I had a defence that conceded nine at Anfield once - the way they played the next game was not very pretty," said Coppell.
"We drew with Southampton. It was 1-1 - but it was a lucky goal.
"If you're a defender you want the ball as far away from your goal as possible, and there was an element of that in the first half."
Derby boss Billy Davies took the positives from his teams performance.
"In the first half we conceded too many free-kicks and were down on energy. But we were much better in the second half, and one lapse of concentration has cost us dear," he said.
"I felt we got a better performance and deserved more than we got. We could have grabbed a win - even at the end of the game we had some good chances.
"We are getting much better and looking confident. The league table doesn't lie, but we could climb with a win."