Jason Tindall believes his Bournemouth side did more than enough to take all three points away from the Bet365 Stadium after beating Stoke 1-0.
A goal from Junior Stanislas 10 minutes from time proved to be the difference in a tight affair in Staffordshire.
Tindall said: “I felt it was a really good away performance against a really good and physical side and I was delighted with the overall performance.
“I thought we without doubt did enough to win the game. We were the far better side and we created the better chances.
“Thankfully we were able to take one of them with a great goal from Junior.
“We moved him more central as the game went on and as we brought Sam Surridge off, we tweaked it to get down either side of the midfielders and we caused them problems.
“Thankfully it worked. You don’t always get it right but it worked this time and Junior popped up with the winning goal.”
Victory lifted Bournemouth just six points behind Championship leaders Norwich and Tindall was pleased his side never gave up in their search for a win.
“It was important we were patient and waited for the chance in the second half,” he said.
“We had the best chance of the first period with Dom Solanke when he hit the bar, but I said at half-time we were not brave enough and we needed to ask more questions.
“We then showed patience in the second half in a different game after the break and we made a good decision and took one of our opportunities that thankfully won us the game.”
Stoke boss Michael O’Neill felt the result was hard on his team.
He said: “It was a frustrating night but there was a lot of things to be pleased about. The performance was very good and I don’t think we deserved to lose the game.
“It turned on one moment of quality and a bit of inexperience from us in key areas. We lost the ball in a bad area and we could have defended it better.
“I thought in the first half some of our play from Joe Allen, Jon Obi Mikel and Jordan Thompson was excellent, and the way we played from the back at times was pleasing.
“It is disappointing to lose but we have now played everyone and we have been in every game right up to the end and not been outplayed.”
The Potters have won just one of their last seven league games but O’Neill believes a change in fortune will come.
“We have found it very, very difficult to score in all honesty since Tyrese (Campbell) got injured earlier in the season,” he said.
“Lee Gregory is out with injury as well so it has been a challenging time for us at the top end of the pitch.
“We have had to change the system but we have to deal with things and I believe we will, in the second half of the season, start scoring again and there are a lot of positives to take at this moment.”
