Swansea City interim boss Alan Sheehan admits it "wasn't a wonderful game, but it was a wonderful win" for his side, as they saw off Derby County in a drab affair at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Eom Jisung's late strike was enough to seal all three points for the Swans, who are now seven points clear of the relegation zone with six games to go.
It was unquestionably an important result, but the lack of quality and excitement from both sides throughout the afternoon means this was a contest that will be quickly forgotten by all concerned. Sign up to our Swansea City newsletter here.
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The pattern of the game, however, didn't seem to come as any surprise to Sheehan, who's now equalled the tally of 11 points from seven games he racked up during his last interim spell.
“I tried to explain the magnitude of this game in the media and I didn’t want to downplay it," he said. "Derby have won four games in a row against teams who are up in the top half, so it was always going to be difficult.
“I said it would be a dogfight. The ball goes out, long throws, set-plays against a big physical team – we had to be more physical.
“At times that killed our fluidity but it’s a fine balance to go and win a game against a team who are down there fighting and have a formula to win games at the moment.”
Swansea didn't even muster up a shot until the 69th minute, and were particularly insipid during a largely joyless first 45 minutes.
“At times in the first half we forced things," Sheehan added. "We went from back to front too quickly when the spaces were somewhere else.
“We found it hard to create tempo in the game because when you defend long throw after long throw, it’s difficult.
“We got into good areas at times but our final ball let us down. But it’s a wonderful defensive display, a win in the Championship and the one bit of quality in the whole game. At this stage of the season, that’s how it’s going to be.
“It wasn’t a good game to watch. I am not going to sit here and say I was really enjoying it.
“But there are different ways to win games in the Championship. Huge credit to John Eustace, he has found a way to win games and we had to try to match their physicality.
“I thought we dealt with their threats but we’d have liked to cause them more problems when we had the ball."
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Pressed on his side's approach to the game, which appeared to be different to the one seen at Leeds United last weekend despite an unchanged line-up, Sheehan added: "I thought we would have a bit more of the ball. It was very difficult to change the team. I wanted Hannes in the team with Harry and Ben for the physicality.
"You could see in the first 10 minutes of the game, the ball's coming into our box continuously from long throws.
"So you have to control that and match that. There were a lot of difficult decisions to make and now there will be even more difficult decisions to come because it wasn't a wonderful game, but it was a wonderful win."
Swansea return to the Swansea.com Stadium on Wednesday night, with Plymouth Argyle the visitors. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
