Ian Holloway said that Swindon Town's performance was as good as it has been under him despite them drawing 0-0 with Accrington Stanley.
Swindon and Accrington were locked in a stalemate across the 90 minutes as they cancelled each other out during the late-season dead rubber.
Kabongo Tshimanga did have the ball in the net late in the first half, only for it to be ruled out after the referee decided Harry Smith fouled Farrend Rawson in the build-up.
Holloway was hugely pleased with how his team responded to a down performance last week and did more than enough to win the game in his opinion.
He said: "That was a much better performance than last week with what we asked them to do.
"I was really pleased with it, apart from scoring, which is normally what we are good at.
"We had enough chances and shots but we missed the target with them too many times.
"The rest of the play was excellent on a bobbly pitch, it was much better than last week, unfortunately, we didn't get the goal that our play merited.
"They had one chance and spooned it over, but defensively, as a group, we looked up for it, we looked hungry, we put the pressure on them, and we matched their desire and I think they are one of the best teams in the league for that.
"They beat us up last year when I first came in and today we won every duel, Ollie [Clarke] and Will [Wright] absolutely battered them and everyone played well in my opinion.
"I thought that the performance level was as good as I have seen since I have been here and I am really proud of the way that the lads are organising each other. That was a huge part of what I wanted this week."
Holloway added that he felt it showed signs of maturity that Swindon were able to correct so many of the issues from last week.
He said: "I think that they know how pleased I am because it is about them understanding and taking on the responsibility of what we asked them to do.
"They have to realise that they have to dominate their friend and colleague who they are challenging to play with and then still try and win together.
"That is what is coming from them, whether they start or are coming on.
"They understand why I am asking them these things and why I am doing these things - that is what I saw today.
"I saw a more mature group understanding what isn't allowed and what they have to do to stop it, whereas last week it was 'What is all this about?'
"If any games costs us the playoffs then it would have been last week, not this week.
"If we had been like today last week then we would have won 3-1 as we could have stopped two of those goals and there were similar moments when today we did what we needed to do."
