Michael O'Neill insists Blackburn Rovers' point at Stoke City was a useful one even if there was a tinge of frustrating at a missed opportunity.
Rovers led 1-0 at the Bet365 Stadium after Adam Forshaw's 21st-minute strike. The away side controlled the first 30 minutes but then drifted in the game and Stoke equalised through Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.
That leveller, coupled with wins for Portsmouth and Oxford United, has seen Rovers' gap to the relegation zone cut from six points to four. Despite that, O'Neill insisted it was a point in the right direction.
"Every point is important at this moment in time," O'Neill said.
"Look, we'll take it. I think obviously, having been ahead in the game you hope you can protect your lead. We didn't do that, we rode our luck a little bit before half-time to be honest.
"It was a poor goal for us to lose really, we didn't get set up quickly enough from the throw-in. I thought the reaction after 1-1 was good because it was difficult with the conditions and we knew we were going to be under pressure in the second half.
"The wind more than anything always spoils the game. It's difficult when you're playing with it, it's difficult when you're playing into it as well, you could see that for both teams.
"Both teams had to deal with that today and I thought they tried everything possible to try and play football. I thought both teams tried to play at the right times in the game but ultimately, as I say, we probably found it a little bit harder to create opportunities today.
"I thought as the game progressed, we looked like we maybe would create some on ourselves but ultimately, we'll take the point."
Forshaw was once again a standout for Rovers, not just because of his excellent goal. He has been in a real purple patch since Sondre Tronstad's knee injury.
O'Neill was again impressed with his performances and praised Eiran Cashin for his efforts after returning from injury.
"It's good play, good link-up play between Yuki and Mori and then to release Ryan on that side and then it's a nice little set for Adam to come onto it," he said on the goal.
"It's a brilliant finish and he's shown obviously in the period that I've been here, he's shown that he's still a top player and that was a clear example of it.
"It's clear what he means to the fans as well, they've sung his name throughout the game today.
"I never liked taking Adam off, we just felt that in the game and he felt he was cramping up a little bit. There was one or two others like that as well.
"One of the problems we have is that when players come back, we don't really have any real time to bed them in.
"We're asking a lot of players coming back in. If you look at Cashin today, he's missed the last two games but he needed to come in today and play 90. Those are the challenges that we face at this minute in time."
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