Daniel Farke was pleased with how his Norwich City side faced up to the physical challenge their Carabao Cup Round One opponents Stevenage provided on Tuesday night.
After a difficult opening hour to the match, City's patience paid off towards the end as they ran out comfortable 3-1 winners at Carrow Road.
Speaking post-match, Farke said: "I'm totally pleased [with the result]. It's always the most important thing to win the game and to go the next round.
"In addition to that, I think it was a proper game. I'm a bit pleased it wasn't an easy win when we had that setback with the equaliser - especially for the young lads, it was a good education in terms of development.
"It shows they have to stand and to win the battles against such a physical side. Big compliments to Stevenage because they were a physical side, sometimes over-the-line I think.
"But in general, I think we were able to be brave and rebellious also with the young lads to win this game. I'm pretty pleased today."
Furthermore, Farke revealed a few slight injury concerns that were a result of the physical encounter.
"Many duels were a bit over-the-line. He [Tom Trybull] got a pretty big hit. I hope it's just a dead leg and not a structural injury but we will see.
"The same goes for Marco Stiepermann and the same with Kenny McLean - also Max Aarons and Louis Thompson had some slight problems.
"In general, it's normal after a game - football will always be a physical game. Today I think it was a bit over-the-line but sometimes this happens in Cup games."