Canvey Island soccer boss Jeff King confessed to being a far happier man - despite seeing his side sink closer to the Nationwide Conference danger area with a 1-0 defeat at Hereford.
The setback at the former Football League club was Gulls' eighth on the trot on opposition territory in the league.
But the Islanders produced a far more solid defensive display following their horrendous mistakes at the back in the previous two Conference matches.
And King insisted: "I was pleased with our display today.
"I changed a few players and we used a different formation with four across the back and just one out-and-out striker in Lee Boylan.
"It certainly wasn't a negative team as we had Jon Keeling and Jeff Minton backing Lee up and I thought the boys at the back did very well.
"Steve Ward had a dip in form last week, but was magnificent today and Dave Theobald, Dave McGhee and Chris Duffy, playing left-back instead of wing-back for the first occasion in a long time, did very well also.
"In fact I'm disappointed we were beaten.
"I thought we were worth a draw. Lee Boylan hit the bar and their goalkeeper made a couple of good saves."
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