Norwich City head coach Dean Smith was pleased with the resilience shown by his side in their 3-1 win over Stoke City in the Sky Bet Championship.
Goals from Aaron Ramsey (2) and Gabriel Sara had City in a 3-0 lead before Nick Powell's late consolation.
Despite the result, Smith says he wants to keep the ball better but, also, that the character shown by the side is a positive.
"It didn't quite go to plan but a big three points, I think the result was almost the most important thing today," he explains.
"I thought the performance, and the game, was stodgy and a bit of a slog at times. There were a lot of mistakes, a lot of errors, there was an edginess in the stadium. That's because of recent results that we've had but I've always said winning changes the mood and we have to follow up from this win today on Wednesday against QPR.
"In terms of the performance, we did what we needed to do, we had to be resilient. I would like to see us move the ball quicker than we did today, we looked a little bit leggy in the first half despite six changes to give us some freshness. I asked the subs to make a difference before the game and I think they did that as well."
The deadlock was broken by Ramsey's goal late in the first half before he added a second, linking up with Teemu Pukki on both occasions.
"He'll be the first to tell you that that's probably the thing that's been missing from him. He's a very unselfish player, he loves creating for others and getting assists," Smith said of the Aston Villa loanee.
"So, it was nice for him today and for Teemu to get the assists for him. He's a great lad, he works extremely hard but getting in them areas to score goals, it's a step in the right direction today for him and I've no doubt he'll go on and score more now."
Next up for the Canaries is another home tie, this time against Queens Park Rangers.
"It's been a tough week travelling to Sheffield United and then Burnley. The players have been in every day this week so they'll get a rest tomorrow and from there, we'll prepare ready for QPR as we do every game."