Valerien Ismael was delighted with his Blackburn Rovers players' second-half performance after coming from behind against Sheffield Wednesday.
Goals from Tyrhys Dolan and Yuki Ohashi prevented a sixth-successive defeat and earned a deserved point against the Owls. They were two down at the break after a poor first half after goals from Yan Valery and Yuki Ohashi.
The second half was, undoubtedly, the best Rovers have produced under their new head coach. That has to be the benchmark moving forward, with Ismael very pleased with the display.
"Credit to the players. I think if you see the statistics from the last two years, if not last time, two years ago, Blackburn came back from 2-0 down," Ismael reflected.
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"Great mentality we learned from all the previous weeks. We've had a lot of discussions. We have to shoot on target, be dangerous, force the opponent to defend. It's exactly what I have meant in all the previous weeks.
"In the second half, this is what I expected us to play on the front foot. Intensity, aggressiveness. But from the minute one, without being 2-0 down, but at least we made a step ahead.
"We stopped the bleeding. The next step is from minute one. This is what we will work for. Playing at home, this is what we want, just to be on the front foot, to have that belief.
"You see, when the players believe in themselves, just let go and stick to the game plan, then you are able to play like that, wave after wave after wave.
"This is definitely our best performance because we got that reward with two goals. So actually, we won the second half 2-0. So, yes, this is sometimes in football, it takes time to see the first result from your work.
"Now we see that we are moving in the right direction. Not about the big result to win the game, but at least in the performance. Because this is what I expected, to be more proactive. We were really proactive tonight in the second half."
Ewood Park was notably quiet and disgruntled after a poor first half. Dolan's header sparked the stadium into life and, briefly at least, connected everyone back together.
With renewed energy in the ground, Ismael felt it made a huge difference to the players' confidence on the pitch.
"When we scored the second goal, I got that feeling that we were all back on track. At least for that moment," he continued.
"Everyone at the stadium, the players, we were focused on the possibility to win finally the game.
"For me, it was a great feeling to have to see this is exactly what I expected my team to play. It just gives you the confidence and the confirmation. This is our way.
"It will be our way in the future. But now, till the end of the season, will be to get positivity back on the pitch and to make sure that we can get some win."
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