Stoke City boss Tony Pulis admits he thought they had blown it when Birmingham City made it 2-2 during last night's win.
In the end, though, it was the hosts who emerged triumphant 3-2 as Dean Whitehead pounced five minutes from time to secure a vital three points - much to the relief of Pulis.
Asked if he thought his hopes of a win were gone when Birmingham equalised, the manager said: "Yes - when they got the second goal it was very deflating.
"But I thought in the first half, it was as good as we have played, getting the ball wide nice and early, and we caused them lots of problems.
"The big disappointment was that we weren't coming in at half-time more than one goal up.
"We started the second half well and then had a mad 15 minutes where, after Ricardo's fantastic goal, they pressed on and had nothing to lose.
"After the previous 70 minutes, we started to take a step back, and fair play to Birmingham, they kept going and they nearly nicked something.
"But we've got a great group of players who never give up and they are resilient.
"What we needed was a win, which we have got and it has lifted us a little bit."
