Max Bird scored from close range 10 minutes into the second half and Town looked set to suffer a second successive defeat.
However, Mal Benning, who was named Shrewsbury’s player of the month earlier in the week, fended off several challenges and slipped in Aaron Pierre in the 87th minute to score his first goal in over three years.
Curtis Nelson hit Derby’s bar in stoppage time but the Shrews held on for a point, but Hurst feels it was a reasonable result.
“I’m happy with the point. I think we had the points before the game,” the head coach said.
“But I’m not just saying this, we came here to win, not just to get points or hang on.
“From what I’ve seen statistically and the way I felt, I don’t think they caused us that many problems.
“I thought we caused them about as much as we did, but when we fall behind, it’s going to be a worry in terms of how the rest of the game goes.
“But it seems to have made us want to play more, which is frustrating but also gratifying.
“Like I said, it’s hard to know for sure if it’s a great response from us or if we’re going backwards because they’ve gotten ahead.
“But we started passing the ball more and it was good for a while.
“I still think we need to have more belief in our players sometimes, but I think there were some plays in the first half where our guys got on the ball with confidence and made some plays.
“We didn’t create any clear-cut chances, but we had some decent moves, but we had some efforts on goal.
“But overall, we had just as many attempts overall, maybe one less, but just as many attempts in the frame, which I think is pleasing.
“Overall, we deserved the points for the effort.”
The result means Town now have one win, one draw and one loss since Hurst took over, despite dropping two places in League One following the result at Derbyshire. Any Town fan would think they won one point instead of dropping two.
There were few clear-cut chances and Salop kept the second-placed side in the league at arm’s length for 55 minutes.
However, Hurst was disappointed with the “sweet” way his team put the game behind after conceding a goal from a set piece.
He added: “Well, given how good of a team Derby are overall and the players they have, I think we’ve made quite a few restrictions.
“And if that goal had been the winning goal, it would have been very difficult and annoying to get because it’s fundamental.
“It’s not something they worked on, it’s soft, that’s the best way to describe it.
“But it wasn’t great, Bird got in front of us and scored, so it was frustrating on that front, but the players responded well.”