There was enough to please Ian Allinson even though St Albans City could only leave Gloucester City with a 0-0 draw.
Remarkably it was only the second no-score draw for Saints under the former Luton Town and Arsenal cult legend, the last one having arrived on April 1 at Hungerford Town during the 2016-2017 season.
And it was a typically dour game, as most that finish without a goal are, not that the City boss was complaining mind.
Allinson said: “We can say we expected to win but after the run we’ve been on, losing three games on the trot, our confidence has taken a bit of a blow.
“So it was important we didn’t get beat first and foremost.
“We got into some really good areas but it wasn’t a pretty game. It was a horrible game to watch and it was a horrible game to be involved in.
“Both sides really made it difficult and the pitch, although it looks nice, was pretty bobbly.
“But the most pleasing thing for me is we’ve come away with a clean sheet after our horrendous record of conceding goals so somewhere along the line we’ve actually achieved something we set out to do.”
City went into the game just outside of the play-offs, their poor run contributing to their slide, but they were playing a Tigers side just outside of the relegation places.
And while some expected to see Saints leave with three points, Allinson felt it was a hard-earned and not totally unsurprising result.
“There’s no divine right to win,” he said. “We have to respect the opposition and unfortunately we can’t just turn up and win every game of football.
“We have to earn the right.
“They have had a few changes. They have a new manager and from where they were when he came in to now, they are a lot further ahead.
“They will cause teams problems. They scored three against Woking on Tuesday night.
“We have to work extremely hard on what we do and we have to respect the league.
“We were a little bit fragile today so we have to take what we’ve got.
“I’m really pleased with the clean sheet and now we have to improve in the wide areas because we’ve got two strikers who cause a lot of problems for teams.
“We didn’t get enough balls into the box and anything for our forwards to feed off.”
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