Paul Lambert was happy to maintain an unbeaten start as Stoke City manager in Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Watford.
The bet365 Stadium was subjected to a tetchy affair that never lit the touch paper, although a point was enough to lift the Potters out of the Premier League's bottom three.
Consecutive clean sheets for the league's leakiest defence will raise spirits further, with Lambert having enjoyed something of an impact since replacing Mark Hughes.
"I thought they were better than us first half, and I thought we were better second half," Lambert said.
"But four points and two clean sheets is a good start for me personally and the team because it keeps the momentum.
"It's a game we might have lost a few weeks ago, but it probably wasn't a spectacle like the first game [against Huddersfield] was.
"It's their prerogative how they want to play. They are a hard team to play against because of the physical aspect to their game and they go pretty direct to their front lads, but the onus is on us to make the running.
"There's a lot of teams in the battle. There's going to be results that go different ways that people don't expect. At the minute, we have four points out of six, which is a good return for us."
Javi Gracia's first two games in charge of the Hornets have seen Watford fail to score - they were eliminated from the FA Cup by Southampton at the weekend.
The Spaniard said: "We played with more intensity and attitude. In the first half we had a better performance than the second one. We had more control. In the second it was difficult for us to keep control.
"Before coming here, I knew the first thing you need to do is play with intensity and win all the battles, then try to make other things."
| Gracia felt got the basics right this evening, and that points will follow with a similar high intensity in games.Matchday live January 31, 2018
